What “Business in the Margins” Really Means

I have is a business in the margins. That means I don’t have regular business hours.

I know I’m supposed to. The advice is everywhere. Set your hours, protect your time, treat your business like a business. Have a schedule. Keep it.

And sometimes, when someone mentions their office hours or sends me a scheduling link with a handful of 45-minute windows spread across the month, I feel a small flicker of something. Like maybe I’m doing this wrong. Like maybe the people with the proper schedules and the calendar systems have figured out something I haven’t.

Then I look at those 45-minute windows.

A few slots a week. Blocked off like they’re precious. And I think, that’s it? That’s the schedule?

Because that’s actually a lot like mine. It’s just not dressed up the same way.

Here’s what my schedule actually looks like.

Last week my son had swim camp every morning. That meant I had some time while he was there, but I was working from my phone in the car or a waiting room. No laptop, no desk, no proper setup. Just my phone and whatever I can get done then.

It also meant that when he got home in the afternoon, he needed me. Not because anything was wrong, but because we hadn’t had real connection time in the morning and kids feel that. So the afternoons were his. Which meant my work day was effectively over by the time he walked in the door.

That’s a light week. I know that going in. So the week before swim camp, I work ahead. If I can do it in 20 minutes on my laptop, I do. And if I don’t get ahead, I play catch-up the week after.

That’s the whole system.

No business hours. No calendar blocked off in color-coded segments. Just an honest look at what each week actually holds and what that means for what I can realistically get done.

I make commitments and I keep them. But my work schedule changes week to week because my life changes week to week. And pretending otherwise, squeezing myself into a structure that doesn’t fit my actual life, was one of the things that kept me stuck for so long.

Building in the margins isn’t a consolation prize for people who can’t figure out how to get proper business hours. It’s a strategic choice for people who are honest about what their life actually looks like.

Most people’s “business hours” are margins. They’re just calling them something else.

The difference is knowing your margins in advance. Knowing that swim camp week is a light week and planning for it. Knowing that a quiet week with no extra commitments is the week to do the heavy lifting. Working with your life instead of against it.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

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