NFIB

Balancing Act
10/ 10/ 2002

by Tamara Holmes

Candace Giles, owner of Candace Giles & Associates, a home-based real estate appraisal company in New Carrollton, Md., closes her office each night at 5 p.m. She doesn't toil on holidays, rarely works on weekends, and if a client calls her with a last-minute proposition as she's running out of the office, the client has to wait--or look elsewhere.

But closing shop wasn't always so simple for Giles. "There were nights when I would take naps on the couch and work through the night," says Giles, who started her business 11 years ago from a one-bedroom apartment. "The living room became an office," she says. "There was no room for socializing."

Since her apartment was filled with office equipment, it was hard to relax. She'd see the file cabinet or computer and her mind would inevitably turn to work. "I was working more than a normal workload, squeezing in time here and there," she says. During the early days of her two-person business, the excitement of a growing company made the long hours worth it. But as the business matured, so did Giles. As she reflected on her work-filled life, she realized that she had to make a change. "At first you think you have to work around the clock," says Giles, who now makes time to work in her garden and is active in several ministry groups.

Moving into a house that had room for an office basement helped Giles find more balance in her life. Now she has to make a conscious choice to go into her office, rather than have work staring her in the face like before. "It's easier now that I can turn off the light and say, 'The office is closed.' Finding a separate place in your home for your office is ideal," she says.

The biggest factor in Giles' success at separating her business from her personal life has been her willingness to set limits. If her business phone rings while she's cooking dinner, she lets her voice mail answer. "I was surprised at how the work got done anyway," she says. "Why didn't I do this before?"

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This article originally appeared in the October/November 2002 issue of MyBusiness magazine.

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