Always Available to Your Clients? How to Set Boundaries

How to set boundaries. This is an issue I’ve grappled with throughout my professional career. And it’s only been heightened by working from home these past several weeks.

Always Available?

In my current role as a commercial real estate recruiter and during my time as an attorney, my single-minded approach has been to provide the best possible customer service that I could.

If that meant bending my schedule to what worked for my client, so be it. If that meant working into the wee hours or during the weekend, so be it. I believed what set me apart from my competition was my willingness to ALWAYS be available for my clients—no matter what.

But I think I had this wrong.

Balancing the Needs of Business + Family

As I now work at home and balance the needs of business and family, the line between office hours and home life can truly become blurred. Therefore, it’s becoming more important than ever to set very clear boundaries between the two. When I’m on, I will work harder and smarter than ever. But when I’m off, I’m okay with waiting to return an email or scheduling a call for tomorrow.

Balancing my client’s needs and my own isn’t mutually exclusive. Discipline and good communication seem to be the keys to striking the right balance.