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A typical working day for many is not necessarily a 9 to 5 day! More and more people are choosing to find work that allows them to work flexible, family-friendly hours, allowing them to take control of their own busy lifestyles.

The traditional 9 to 5 office job is dying and as such finding a balance in your working life is an important factor with most working-age people. As a contractor or freelancer, you have the ability to set your own working hours and will typically enjoy a better quality of life than those who are contracted to work set hours by an employer.

As a contractor you will be working with a variety of clients, some of which may be global, not local. This means the need to work within different time zones and being flexible with when you work - if you’re working with someone in the U.S. who needs you online at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, it’s possible that you’re able to take some time off in the morning for personal time. If you’re a freelancer and you call your own shots, your hours will be worked to how you feel they fit best with your lifestyle.

Overwork causes stress, depression and anxiety and the biggest single cause last year of this was workload. 25.7 million days during 2016/17 were lost due to work-related ill health. This statistic alone shows the importance of having a work-life balance to increase the quality of life.

There are many other benefits to choosing your own working hours and some are simply the necessity in order to fulfil other obligations. If you have a young family and both you and your partner work, childcare could be an issue. Working around this and finding hours that suit both parents would help family life balance. This also applies if you have older or disabled relatives that you are responsible for.

The idea of choosing your own working hours is a main factor into why many people start their own business in the first place. If you work for yourself, you are not tied to the constraints of an employer and what they expect from you. You are responsible for your own working pattern and can build your business around your preferences and passions.

The key to achieving a work-life balance is that it is different for everyone. Whatever role you play or business you work in, choose the hours that suit you best and allow yourself to create a working life that you love, that you enjoy and that you will succeed in. If you don’t enjoy your work, you’ll have less confidence that it will succeed. Be positive, be proactive and manage your time well.

If you are a contractor and you want to make the most of your time, we can help even further by giving you complete assurance that your time is 100% focused on what you love about your business and your accounting and paperwork is covered by us. Not more wasted hours on the administration side of your business, your time is your own. Be efficient in time management, be flexible in your approach and love your business.