Q: I am overwhelmed at work. It is a small office and I handle most duties – everything from answering the phone to shipping. I have a helper who comes in during big crunch times, but I can’t afford more. What do I do?

Stephanie

A: I have a question in return:

Do you run your business or does your business run you?

For far too many people, the answer is the latter, and it is the wrong answer. Look, I understand that we are living in an age where the line between work, home, business, and recreation is blurring. Between cell phones, laptops, wireless Internet, and other mobility devices, it has become very easy – too easy really – to work anywhere and everywhere.

Part of that is good, for example, when you are able to work late, take some time off in the afternoon to run errands, and so on. Personally, I like that sort of flexibility.

But when I find myself answering business e-mails at 10:00 pm, or worse, when I recently caught myself checking my Blackberry for e-mails while inside the theatre at the movies with my kids, flexibility has a new name – stupidity.

Just because we can work anywhere at anytime, it does not mean we should.

This is similarly true if you have created a business or career that is so successful that it keeps you hopping. That’s great, that is what you want to a certain degree. But look gang, sometimes you need to goof-off, get some extra golf in, take a day extra of vacation, play hooky in the afternoon with the kids, and so forth.

If you are not doing that, if your business or career does not allow for that, then you are missing the point of this whole exercise.

So how do you do it; how do you run your business life and not have it run you? Here are a few ideas:

Re-think your Priorities: At the end of the great, old musical Oliver! Kinda-bad guy Fagan decides to go straight, and then upon review of what that actually would entail, decides that his old life is too good to leave, and so he sings, “I think I better think it out again, hey!”

I don’t want to sound preachy here, but if your business is running you and not vice-versa, you should seriously consider thinking it out again, hey!

Set Some Ground Rules: If your problem, as mine was, is that you couldn’t tell the difference between work and home, then it would behoove you to create some ground rules for yourself, such as

• No e-mail after 7:00 pm
• No work on weekends
• Turn off the PDA

Hire an Assistant: If you are a one man or woman show, and you are busy, busy, busy, and if you don’t have an assistant, then guess what? You are an assistant. If you say you can’t afford one, I say, you can’t afford not to have one. Hiring someone to handle mundane tasks will free you up to spend more time on the parts of your business that are a better use of your time and talents.

Hire a Manager: If your shop is bigger, a trusted, valuable manager can similarly do the same thing, only with bigger results. I know a small business owner who rarely even goes to her store anymore, so much does she know and trust her manager. Instead, the owner spends her time traveling the world with her husband. Sure, she could save on labor if she were at the store more, but then her business would be running her now, wouldn’t it?

If you want a better work-life balance, then there will be trade-offs. Your overhead may increase, or some clients may not have access to you at all times, but the payoff, a more interesting, fulfilling, fun life, should be worth it.

Today’s tip: Do you have a great website, or would you like one? The Web Marketing Association is holding its annual Best Small Business Websites competition. Whether you have a great site that you would like to submit, or whether you want to learn some more about what constitutes a great small business website from past winners, the competition page should be of interest to you.