How A Busy Entrepreneur Can Have An Active Social Life

By Mike Michalowicz (Google+)

By: Marni Kinrys, The Ultimate Wing Girl

Tim Ferris really did a number on me, when he got me to believe that the “4 Hour Work Week” was really a 4-hour workweek. Easy life, free time, getting to choose my own hours. Turns out, not entirely true. After starting my biz, my social life was basically non-existent, my love life was suffering and the inner peace I once had, completely diminished. Damn you Ferris!!!!

It took me a few years of being an entrepreneur, to learn how to successfully balance a running biz and maintaining an awesome social life.

Here are a few little tips and tricks I use to make sure I didn’t forget about me:

Make entrepreneur friends. The first thing that got me out of my social funk was when I discovered that one of my online marketing group contacts (in my virtual/online group) actually lived steps away from me. He and I met, started hanging out and shortly after he was introducing me to other people who were just like me. Entrepreneurs! Prior to meeting him, all my friends worked 9-5 and didn’t get me. Suddenly I had new world of contacts, friends AND social activities to do with people just like me.

Plan Your Own Events. If I were the kind of person who depended on others to make shit happen, then I would not be where I am today ;-) So I take it upon myself to create my own events with friends. Maybe guys, will not understand this next statement, but ladies – you know how hard it is to get a group of women to commit to hanging out. It’s freakin tough. But I keep trying. I have tea parties; wine tasting nights, dinner club, potlucks, and organize group vacations. And I keep on people. There was one point where insecurity crept in and I asked my friends if they wanted me to keep doing this and one of them said “OMG Marni, if you didn’t make this happen we would never see each other. We love that you get us out of the house. Please keep doing this.”

Schedule Social Time. Now I’ll admit, I don’t stick to this one religiously, but I try my best to schedule my social time. Not with actual events, but with blocks of time labeled as social. Social can mean anything: Gym, yoga class, walk to get coffee, go for lunch, call a friend. It’s basically me time. This has really been helping to take care of the diminishing inner peace.

Say Yes To Almost Every Invite. At the end of the day, the last thing that any of us want to do is shower and put our party clothes on BUT it’s a must. Well, it’s a must at least once a week. It’s always a pain getting there but something great always comes out of it. Either a new friend or a new contact.

Trust me when I say, I get it. I know how hard it is to rustle up the energy to go out and be social when you run your own business. I would much rather sit at home, on the couch cuddled up to my entrepreneur husband and watch The Bachelor (don’t tell him that I told you he watches that show). But if I did that every night, I would suffer. My business would suffer and therefore my clients would suffer.

My final message to you, which is the same one that I give to each of my clients, is GET OFF YOUR BUTT and make life happen. You gotta be active in activating your social life!

–

Marni Kinrys, the ultimate Wing Girl is a woman who has worked with 100′s of thousands of men all over the world to help them understand women so they can attract, date, seduce and get any woman they want without being a jerk. Marni has been prominently featured in The Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Huffington Post, Fox News, The Chicago Tribune, Marie Claire, Elle, Glamour, Men’s Health, BlackBook, Penthouse, Asylum.com, MSN, AOL Personals, Askmen.com & more. For more dating, sex and attraction tips, follow Marni on Facebook and Twitter.

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  • toiletpaperentrepreneur

    Marni – Thanks for writing this great article!  A question for all entrepreneurs… what is your trick to keeping your social life going?  I struggle with it a lot and the more tips the better.

    • http://www.madebyamyd.com/ AmyD

      We have a mastermind group we call the “Cuddle Huddle.” It’s women entrepreneurs and we meet regularly. We also joined a bowling league! You can’t skip bowling or it screws up your average. Plus, there’s beer. Win-win

  • AJ Harper

    Great post, Marni! As a writer, I pretty much live in my cave, and only come out for kid-related events, my eyes squinting in the sun like a mole. (“Oh, so THIS is what sunlight feels like.”) I went to a party on July 4th at our pool club and everyone I talked to said, “How are you? Still busy-busy? Still locked in your office?” I guess I need a new plan. Thanks for the inspiration!

  • http://twitter.com/IamAnyaRogers Anya Rogers

    Loving it! Everybody needs a kick in a but. But in order to do it voluntarily you MUST be happy and have tons of energy. And here how to have it: http://anyarogers.com/how-to-be-happy/#

  • http://twitter.com/jarom jarom adair

    Love the opening! I looked into Tim Ferris’s background to get the real story, and he did nothing but work at his business day and night for at least 6 years before he started cutting back and eventually whittling things down to 4 hours several years after that. He kinda forgot to mention that part. You’ve got to put in the work one way or another to reap the rewards.

    • toiletpaperentrepreneur

      I agree with you Jarom. I have personally never experienced building a business without putting in tireless hours.  I love Tim’s book and don’t think that he purports that anyone can just start doing 4 hours a week, without significant financial compromise.

      I mean, I think he argues anyone can do it, but that the New Rich (NR) is a lifestyle that is richness in time and not as much in money. That being said, money is still HUGELY important and Tim states that to be true too.

      • http://twitter.com/jarom jarom adair

         Agreed (of course).

        It’s been quite a few years since I read his book. I can only remember thinking “It sounds so easy in his book for anyone to divest themselves of responsibility and then go travel the world. I wonder how HE did it?” and then digging up a video interview of him talking about how he put in killer hours into his business for years. And I said “Oh–that’s how.”

        I’ll have to read it again since I’m in a different place in business now. It certainly is an mind-expanding book.