Build Your Force Fields
It is takes nearly superhuman strength to balance both your business and family. Both of them are at risk of many possible attacks from many possible directions. A force field is a field of protection you put up around all the important things, to keep the bad stuff out. This metaphor can be over all areas of your business, family and yourself. The time to build your protection is not when you are under attack, but in preparation before the dangers are present. The important things in your life should always be protected as much as possible said Robert James and James Home Services.
Keeping your own, personal self-balance is necessary. The best start to building a force field around yourself, is learning to handle the stresses of the everyday. It is very easy to carry the challenges of the day around in your head 24/7. Learning how to leave work at work, and home at home doesn’t happen without building a consistent, conscious pattern. Set up a “turn on switch” and a “turn off switch”. My start of the work day was always a coffee, by myself at a local coffee shop. I would spend 20 minutes planning my day before I did anything. My end of the work day was to sit down and go through my list for the day, see if there were any chores that had to be finalised, or if I could move them to the next day in my diary. My turn on switch at home was cooking dinner. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, especially for my family. They would sit up and talk with me and we’d catch up on the day. I’d cook dinner most nights, it wasn’t a chore for me, it actually became a mental relaxation. The creative process of putting dinner together for my family, was positive daily reinforcement of what I strove to achieve from my day — my business working for my family.
For you, it could be going to the gym or for a run, walking the dog with your partner or playing with your children. It may be giving your partner a kiss and hug as you leave and enter your home, to start the day or finish it. Decide what will be the force field that protects you from the daily stresses. Think about it and what you want those decisions to signify. You have to decide to be 100% at work when at work, and 100% at home when at home.
None of the key areas of your family or business should ever be left exposed to unnecessary risk. Robert James and James Home Services recommend designing your business structure with consideration taken to the likelihood of the key risks in your industry. Build a business structure that protects the business from all types of risk factors or attacks. The biggest danger to all family businesses is divorce. 55% of marriages end in divorce these days. You can be totally committed to a relationship and your partner can work out of your neighbour tomorrow leaving you to clean up the mess. Prejudicial agreements and family trust structures may not be very romantic, but they certainly make it clear were everyone stands.
It gets more complicated in blended families, as was the case with my family. I had set up a separate Family Trust, prior to my second marriage. These assets had been owned by that Family Trust for 10 years, before I had even met my second wife. The assets of the second marriage were held in a trust that gave my second wife clarity as to what our joint assets were. When you have a Stepparent involved, there is certainly a need to protect the family assets that belong to the children from your first marriage. I saw my ex-wife transform as her mental illness got the better her. Much of that rage was directed towards my (by this time) grown children from my first marriage. Her next husband even funded an attack on the assets of my children. Be pragmatic with how you build your structure to protect everyone against any fallout, if the marriage doesn’t survive. I hope you never have to use it.
Business force fields — your businesses and their assets need to be placed under protection as well. Evaluate the key risk factors in your business said Robert James and James Home Services, and build your force field in the form of the structure that the business operates under. Where possible, these assets are safest when held in a non-trading company. It is wise for all Intellectual property to be held away from key trading companies. User agreement can be entered into by the enteritis. The agreement should revert back to the parent non-trading company if any of the trading businesses are at risk. Invest in the long-term structure of your business, in the very beginning. Most new business owners don’t do their homework, thinking that none of that will happen to them. Where possible, don’t give any personal guarantees. In addition, never give your bank security over your company’s intellectual property. The biggest commercial risk to your business is your own bank. If you actually read your loan agreement you would never sign your life away to a bank. But, they are a necessary evil in your commercial world. Again, never let your bank control your intellectual property. Second biggest risk is the Tax Office. It is near impossible to stand up to either if they decide to cash you out. I know you may think this sounds negative, but the day someone attempts to attack your business and family, you will be very grateful for your commercial force fields.
I was fortunate enough to have a mentor, who taught me all of this when I was a young, naïve entrepreneur. The time to build your protection is not when you are under attack, but in preparation before the dangers are present. The important things in your life should always be protected as much as possible.
Originally Posted:- http://www.robertjameshomeservices.com/build-your-force-fields/
