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You're in the throes of your Amazon business, you're busy optimizing your listing, managing PPC, analyzing your competition, and then all of a sudden, you find yourself lacking that one key thing everyone is always talking about: balance. Balance hadn't occurred to you when you launched your first product because you had your roadmap to success firmly planned out, and you thought you could do it all...

Then it happened, your launch was a success, and to your amazement, your hard work started paying off! Your biz grew at a rate you hadn’t anticipated nor planned for. Next thing you know, you’re wearing all the hats! You’re the Marketing Expert, PPC specialist, Customer Service Agent, HR person, and so on and so forth. The list of daily tasks in your Amazon FBA biz keeps growing!

The thing is, though, your everyday life doesn’t stop when you run an Amazon business. You still have family obligations, friendships to maintain, or perhaps that homeschooling you were thrust into thanks to the pandemic. Whatever the case may be, something has to give before things come to a crashing halt, and you, or your Amazon business, suffer from a mounting burnout.

With combined efforts like outsourcing and making some minor changes to your routine, you can get out of this rut of feeling overwhelm.

#1 Be Clear with Your Goals

Without clear goals, balance becomes challenging because you focus on all elements of growth in your Amazon business at once. Define your goals in both short-term and long-term projections and be accountable to those goals. By writing your goals down and becoming hyper-focused on them, you can start to take small steps of action instead of trying to achieve giant unrealistic leaps. Goal setting creates balance on top of tangible ways to achieve results. Set SMART Goals.

Specific - Find focused goals, be as clear as possible

Measurable - Develop goals and long term processes

Attainable - Stick to small steps of action so you see progress in stages

Relevant - Prioritize your goals and be realistic

Time-Bound - Create time frames and set limits

Creating goals can seem overwhelming, but it’s essential to your success. Creating milestones can help you see plans of action in small steps and stages. Goal setting is crucial to finding your way in the Amazon space so that you not only have a clear vision but are able to find balance as your business progresses. Do these things sooner rather than later and save yourself from the stress and anxiety that can come when you don’t have a clear path.

Amazon doesn’t sleep, and in the beginning, neither do you. The long-term effect of this can be grim, and eventually, something has to give. As much as the desired laptop lifestyle offers flexibility, the truth is many of us are burning the candle at both ends. The difference between this and our 9 -5 we hope to give up? Passion. We love what we do, and so that alone propels us forward on caffeine and a couple of hours of sleep each day.

The workload doesn’t stop, though. Once you navigate your first product, you start to add in others, and before you know it, you have your hands in all avenues of your FBA business without end in sight. Before you know if you're split in many directions. Your business can suffer, and so can your relationships and personal life.

Good business people learn to delegate, and they know to loosen the reins of control. Hiring out some of the tasks that aren't your strong suit can help you balance the demands of your Amazon business and your personal life.

Hiring virtual assistants in your business is a great option to free up some of your personal time but to also find productivity. Virtual assistants often come trained, and specific VA companies offer virtual assistants who have previous experience in Amazon - a bonus for us Amazon sellers! A VA’s tasks can include:

Customer Service

Product Sourcing

Listing Management

Inventory Management

Flat File Uploads

Competitor Analysis

Keyword Research

Social Media Management

VA's require a bit of onboarding, which would be normal in a brick and mortar sense in any company you owned or worked for. Just be sure to take the time to go through a detailed interview process. There are many resources online that can help you formulate good questions in these types of interview scenarios. Be clear on expectations, and take your time in the process.

You're probably thinking the whole reason you left your 9-5 was to avoid set hours and find flexibility while working for yourself. You’re probably also thinking you can't operate on a strict hourly schedule in e-commerce. Well, the answers here are both yes and no.

Start your day with meditation or a workout, even a light walk. Anything you can do to take care of your body and mind will help you find balance throughout your life.

Dedicate 1 to 2 days off a week. Shocking, I know! You need an entire 1-2 days off a week in order to feel rejuvenated, so you can utilize your most effective skill set to its best.

Set a schedule on your phone, in a planner, or a calendar app so that you have a visual representation of the routine you’ve created and hold yourself accountable to it.

Take small breaks during your workday. We all know the fog that can come over us when we sit at a laptop screen for hours on end so ensure that you’ve scheduled working breaks throughout your day.

#4 Practise Social Media Minimalism

An estimated 244 million people used social media in the USA back in 2018, and that number is expected to rise to 257 million by 2023!Imagine the hours logged in social accounts and how that can affect our ability to focus on taking care of ourselves. Social media isn’t about all or nothing thinking, it’s about finding a happy medium so that you can truly enjoy some much-needed personal time without being hyper focussed on social platforms at all times. Practicing social media minimalism is a great way to achieve balance in your social media practices and avoid the overwhelm that can sometimes arise from an overload of social media engagement.

Assess your purpose for social media. Are you utilizing social platforms for business or personal reasons? Find a minimalist approach to social media so it doesn't take you away from your time.

Choose your apps wisely. Select apps that can provide you with the benefits you are seeking, but try your best not to seek out too many apps at once.

Take a break when needed. Stop the scroll if you’ve been at it for hours. If this is too difficult for you, use a timer to help you limit your social media time!

Finding balance is not only about bringing your time back to the forefront of your life, but it's also about being focused on what is and isn't important. It may mean that you have to get comfortable saying no more often. Being intentional with your time and unapologetic for that intention will allow you to create balance by having clear expectations and not weighing the expectations of others or yourself if unrealistic, too heavily throughout the day.

Start small by trialing saying no to something you aren’t sure is a priority. Practise will help you gain the confidence to say no when it’s appropriate to do so.

Choose your network wisely, just be selective!

Ask yourself if the work your doing is necessary, or if it can wait.

What needs to be done in order to achieve some of your goals?

Things often aren't strictly black and white in our seller central portal, so we like to go to various platforms to learn and scale. A service in which you have access to multiple streams of data will allow you to find balance in your biz and positively impact finding balance in your personal life. I suggested finding some user-friendly tools and keeping your focus on quality, not quantity.

Helium10 is an excellent resource for learning and development, from the resource section to the many tools like Cerebro, Black Box, or the newly added Alibaba Demand Analyser. You don’t need to go too far to find one great resource.

Take advantage of XXXX introductory offer and get 50% your first month off with this code: XXXXX

Utilize Freedom Ticket, the exclusive course by Kevin David, only offered to Helium10 users.

Navigate the treasure chest of pro-training content.

Summary

Whether you are optimizing a listing, tracking competitors, or understanding profits, you can do all of these things in one great software, and that my friend, is balance at its finest!

Starting an Amazon business can mean that you’re working far more than you ever thought possible. However, the benefits far outweigh the challenges and if you’re able to find balance along the way, then you're able to enjoy the journey a little more easily without feeling like you're chained to your laptop.

Are you looking for content creation for your Amazon biz, but don’t know where to start? Drop me an email! Christinaink1.com 📷