Ten Strategies To Help You Run A Business While Caring For Sick Family: Part One

When you run a small business, life can be tricky and hectic. And when a loved one or family member falls sick and you are called upon to care for them, the challenges may seem like they multiply, sometimes exponentially. Suddenly, you’re not just juggling work tasks, meeting deadlines or objectives. You’re also managing caregiving responsibilities, emotional turmoil, a disrupted routine, and keeping track of a whole new set of variables.

If you’re in this situation, let me say this upfront: You are not alone, and you’re doing something extraordinary. Not only for your loved one, but also for yourself.  Running a business when close family is sick is no small feat. The fact that you’re even considering how to balance it all is a testament to your strength, and willingness to step out of the safety of your comfort zone.

In this post, I’ll share compassionate, practical advice, that is rooted in my own experience. I’ve got 5 (out of 10) strategies to help you run your small business while you are caring for a sick loved one.

1. Allow Yourself to Prioritize

When someone you love is sick, it’s natural for their care to take precedence, especially if it’s a close family member. That doesn’t mean your business needs to stop running at all. However, it does mean that you may have to adjust how you manage your time and energy to ensure the relative continuity of your own wellness.

What Tasks Are Essential?

You can ask yourself what tasks are essential so you can focus on what really keeps your business ship moving forward. Pinpointing the deliverables that are higher priority can give you a sense of direction when you feel like your world is imploding. You can even prioritize your priorities.  You may discover that a deliverable you believed was very important may be able to wait an extra week. Suddenly, your conscience is a bit freer.

What can be put on the back-burner?

What can wait? You can identify tasks that are not immediately critical to your business’ operations or success. Then, set them aside for later as a strategy to help keep your mind as void as possible of unnecessary clutter.

What Can You Outsource?

What can be delegated?  If you have a team, or a family member who is familiar with your operations, you can lean on them for support. The same can be done with a trusted third-party provider. Being able to delegate tasks that you may not currently have the bandwidth to carry out effectively could be a game-changer for you and your loved one.  If you can be more present for your family member in need, physically, mentally, and emotionally, then your are setting both of yourselves up for the best possible outcomes.

By accepting that you can’t do everything, you are giving yourself the space and grace to focus on what matters most.  Take it from me, work will always be there tomorrow.  The ability to be present for those you love may not.

2. Communicate With Clients Honestly

Your clients are human beings too, and many will appreciate your honesty and respond to it with grace and compassion. While you don’t need to overshare, a simple note can go a long way in maintaining trust.

Automate Your Responses to Messages

This can absolutely be an automated response you set up on all your communication channels like email, WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.  It will save you time, and the shakes every time you get an incoming message. All this while giving those who would like to reach you the ability to be understanding and aware.

“Dear [Client], I wanted to let you know that I’m currently caring for a family member and may take a bit longer to respond to inquiries. Rest assured, I’m committed to delivering the same quality of work, even if my pace is temporarily slower. Thank you for your understanding during this time.”

Pinned Posts on Your Social Media Channels

You can also pin posts to your social media channels, like I did last summer. It clearly shows people who visit your profiles what your status is, and you can add more context in the captions.

“While I focus on my family’s health, I will be responding to inquiries on Mondays and Wednesdays until further notice.  All orders are shipped out once a week on Fridays.  I appreciate your compassion and understanding of the delays during this time.”   

My pinned post alerting my clients and followers looked like this:

Take it from me, most clients will respect your transparency and admire your dedication to both your family and your business. And a few may reach out to you to ensure that you’re okay or offer to help.  If you need to, you can lean in to that. Especially since you may be away from your usual or familiar support system while here in Abu Dhabi.

3. Set Boundaries to Protect Your Energy

Clearly expressed boundaries can help you balance caring for a sick family member and running your business at the same time. Without them, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed and/or feel like you are spiraling out of control. Here are a few ideas to avoid things unnecessarily “creeping up” on you.

Carving Out Time For Your “Work Buckets”

Create time blocks for yourself by dedicating specific hours to work and caregiving. For example, you might reserve mornings for family responsibilities like getting your children off to school, and scheduling doctor’s appointments and pharmacy runs.  Then, you can block off a few hours in the afternoons for business tasks before it’s time to get the kids from school and prepare supper, etc.

There are so many tools to help you with this.  If you find putting pencil to paper therapeutic, you can print yourself weekly diary templates and carve our your different time buckets for yourself.  If you prefer having an electronic calendar that is capable of sending you reminders, your phone is more than equipped to do that.  I like both.  I lay out my week on paper first, and then I plug it into my iCal and ask each critical task to set reminders.

Limit Your Availability

Limit your availability in a way that is clear to both your stakeholders and yourself. Emphasis on yourself! Circling back to the communication point above, setting expectations with your clients about when you’ll be able to respond to emails, calls, or messages can go a long way in maintaining a good relationship with them… but it’s also crucial for your relationship with yourself.  If you’re like me and you just shrug things off and say, “I can do this quickly,” then you may not be respecting your own boundaries, and the stress of that can creep up on you.  Maybe not immediately, maybe not ever, but the potential is certainly there.  So check yourself when you say things like, “I’ll just take five minutes to do x.”

Prioritize Your Time to Recharge

Protect Your Rest Time. This drives the previous point home. Don’t let the heavy work of running a business or the stress of caring for a sick family member bleed into moments you need to recharge. I know, it’s easier said than done.  Especially when your loved one has higher immediate needs.  Recharge and reset moments do not need to look like taking 5 hours to go to the spa.  Realistically, they look like taking a shower and changing your underwear.  I’m not being flippant here.  When you are battling with worries on many fronts, it’s really hard to prioritize changing your own clothes.  It has happened to me where I have looked at myself in the mirror with disdain when I realized I was still wearing the same PJs I woke up in, two days ago.

I feel like I should have a disclaimer here… there will always be “urgencies” that pop up.  Take the time you need to get into a clear headspace, then sit down in a quiet space, take some time to breathe, and do your “importance assessment”.  Boundaries help you focus on one thing at a time, reducing stress and preventing burnout.

4. Practice Radical Self-Compassion

In challenging times, it can be superbly easy to be hard on yourself for not doing “enough.” But the truth is, you’re doing more than most people can imagine. And it’s all for the good of yourself, your loved one, your family, your business, and, let’s be honest, community in general.  Show yourself the same kindness you would offer a friend.

Remind Yourself That These May Be Hard Times

When self deprecating thoughts begin to surface, acknowledge the difficulty of running a business while you’re caring for a sick family member. It’s okay to admit that this is hard. This may, without a shred of doubt, be one of the hardest times in your life.  You’re going through a lot, and carrying a lot of weight.  There are expectations placed on you, either by others or by yourself.  You are not failing, you’re navigating an extraordinary situation.  Reminding yourself of the gravity and heaviness of your situation can help you put things back into perspective.

Tell Yourself That Every Victory Counts, And Celebrate Them

Celebrate small wins. Even if all you accomplish today is answering a WhatsApp message, keeping the kids alive, or cooking dinner, that’s a victory. There are great chances that, on a daily basis, you are accomplishing WAY more than that.  Even if the accomplishment is not business-related, celebrate being able to put one foot in front of the other every day.  Getting out of bed, showing up for others and yourself every day among chaos and turmoil (either mild or extreme) is a win.  Please don’t lose sight of that.

Perfection is One of The Least Important Things to Focus On

For the love of everything that is good, please release the notion of perfectionism for the time being. Now is not the time to aim for perfection. Unless you are building the next rocket that will bring human beings to the moon, aim for “good enough,” and know that’s more than sufficient. I know, this is easier said than done.  But when you give yourself permission to release the importance of minutia with the self-promise that it is temporary, you are laying parts of the foundation of your own internal safe space.

It may be one heck of a difficult adjustment to aggressively prioritize being kind to yourself.  And when that looks like letting go of some processes or beliefs that are deeply engrained in your psyche, it can be an arduous process.  But tell yourself that it’s only temporary.  Things will get better, and you will once again find normalcy.

5. Focus on Flexibility

Consider ways to adapt the running of your business that would allow you to focus on caring for your sick loved one or your family. Here are a few ideas that may inspire you:

Scale Down Operations, Where Possible

You can temporarily downshift your operations by simplifying your offerings. This could look like reducing the number of products or services you offer.  For example, if you produce candles in your business, consider temporarily limiting the diversity of scents offered.  You could make some of them a “limited release”, where you would produce one batch a month and once that stock runs out, customers will need to wait until the following month’s batch.  If you are an aesthetician, consider only offering more onerous services one day a week.  This can allow you the mental space you need to focus on where you need to be, rather than trying to operate on full steam while being worried about literally anything else that may cause you to make mistakes.

Delay Deliverables

Give yourself extra time to complete projects by extending some deadlines, where you can. If the nature of your work allows flexibility to extend deadlines (i.e., you are not putting your client’s or your own business in jeopardy by delaying your deliverables,) then giving yourself some extra wiggle room might be just what you need to keep on keeping on. This should be done by having a frank conversation with your client(s), and your team, if applicable.  Clear, honest, and timely communication go a very long way.  Make sure that effective and honest communication always remain one of your top business priorities.  People will always be inclined to understand if they are allowed the courtesy of clarity.

Adaptability is a powerful tool for navigating uncertain times, both for you and for your clients.  You may even find that the adaptations work very well for your business, and continue with the approach long past the time you resume more normal operations. They say that necessity is the mother of all inventions… I say that necessity can be the mother of all business innovation and sustainability… there can be a silver lining to every cloud.

Wrapping Up Part One With a Gentle Reminder: You’ve Got This!

When you are juggling running a business while caring for a sick loved one, there is no doubt that things are far from easy.  It’s messy, it’s exhausting, and sometimes it’s downright overwhelming. But as we’ve explored in this post, it’s possible to navigate the choppy waters by giving yourself the grace and space to prioritize, set boundaries, and take the flexibility bull by the horns.

The five strategies in this post are just the start of the conversation. In Part Two, we’ll dive into five more tips that focus on simplifying your processes, building a strong support system, and, perhaps most importantly, finding ways to protect your energy and well-being during stressful times. If nothing else, I hope you leave this post knowing that you’re not alone, and that you’re doing the best you can with what you have. Be kind to yourself, and I’ll see you here next week with more advice, encouragement, and maybe a little nudge to keep you moving forward.