your client texts at 9:00 PM expecting an immediate response. Your family interrupts during work hours. Assuming you're always available, your business partner schedules calls without asking. If the time works, here's your reality check. Your time doesn't belong to everyone else. Just because you are an entrepreneur and protecting it isn't selfish, it's strategic. Hi, I'm Cindy Gordon, a self-made entrepreneur, busy mom and execution coach. I built and sold multiple digital businesses, and I'm the founder of the Growth Collective, a dollar a day business support system where entrepreneurs get weekly office hours, actionable courses, and a community that values boundaries as much as the hustle. And here's what I want you to know for sure. The fastest way to burnout is letting everyone else control your calendar. Before we dive in today, if you are not getting my weekly productivity tips yet, grab them using the link in the show notes. They're the behind the scenes systems that I use to stay productive while running my business. I'm about to show you how to protect your time when everyone else thinks it's theirs. The business owners that I coach share the same frustration. You set work hours, but clients expect you to respond instantly. You block off time for focused work, but family members assume that you are available for interruptions. You plan your week, but other people's emergencies constantly hijack your schedule. Here's what's really happening. When you became an entrepreneur, everyone started treating your time like it's community property. Your clients think flexible schedule means always available. Your family assumes that working from home means you are not really working. Your business partners expect immediate responses because hey, you're your own boss, right? But here's the reality check. When everyone else treats your time as theirs to claim, you end up with no time for the work that actually moves your business forward. You are constantly reacting to other people's priorities instead of protecting your own. When it comes to setting boundaries as an entrepreneur, your brain thinks that boundaries equal rejection. When you say no to a client request or tell your family you're unavailable, your mind automatically worries about damaging the relationship. But here's what's really going on, your confusing availability with value. Your brain has been trained to believe that being accessible 24 7 makes you a better entrepreneur, a more dedicated business owner, a more reliable person. But that's false urgency talking. When everything feels urgent, every text, every email, every interruption. Nothing really is the truth is most urgent requests are just urgent to the person making them. Let me say that for those in the back of the room, again, most urgent requests are just urgent to the person who's making them. Let that sink in for a minute, and when someone else's poor planning becomes your emergency, that's not a boundary problem. That's a reality check problem. So how do you actually protect your time when everyone else thinks it's theirs? Let me walk you through the three types of time boundaries that every business owner needs. Set client boundaries using the response window method. Not all messages need instant replies. Create tiered response times. Emails within 24 business hours. Texts for actual emergencies. Onlys. Client calls scheduled Tuesday through Thursday, reality check. If you respond immediately, every single time you are training people to expect an immediate response, define what qualifies as a true emergency and spoiler alert, most things aren't Next, establish family boundaries that protect your work time without making you feel guilty. If you have a family, they need to understand that when the work room door is closed, that means do not disturb unless it's an actual emergency. But here's the flip side, when you are off work, be fully present. Work time protection works both ways. You are not available during work hours and work isn't available during family time. Here's what most entrepreneurs miss. Internal boundaries. You need to protect your time from yourself. Stop saying yes to every opportunity. Stop checking email every five minutes. Stop stealing your own CEO. Time for busy work. The biggest time thief in your business might actually be you when resistance shows up, remember this question. Is this actually urgent or is this just urgent to them? When a client texts at 9:00 PM ask yourself if their lack of planning constitutes your emergency. It usually doesn't. To build this into your routine, start communicating your boundaries before you need them. Send clients an email. It could say something like, I respond to emails within 24 business hours for true emergencies. Here's my protocol, and then list it out. Tell your family your work hours and what qualifies as an interruption worthy situation. Set your own rules about when you'll check your email and stick to them. The most common obstacle I hear is fear of losing clients. Or disappointing people, but here's what actually happens. When you set real boundaries, you attract better clients who respect your time, your family learns to support your business, and you get significantly more done because you're not being constantly interrupted. Inside the Growth Collective, we work on boundary setting strategies because this is such a common struggle for entrepreneurs, having a community that reinforces boundaries instead of hustle at all costs, makes maintaining them so much easier to maintain momentum. Remember that boundaries are not walls. They're frameworks for respect. You are not shutting people out. You are creating a space for your most important work while still being available when it truly matters. Let me give you a few real examples of what time boundaries look like in my business. I've built time boundaries into my business operations on multiple levels. I try to respond to non-emergency messages within 24 hours, and I typically don't take calls on Mondays or Fridays, and I protect my morning CEO time, like it is sacred because it is. These boundaries haven't lost me, clients or business. They've earned me respect and given me back the control of my schedule. So here's what I want you to remember today. Protecting your time makes you a better entrepreneur, not a selfish one. When everything feels urgent, you need to reality check whose emergency it actually is. Nine times outta 10, it's not gonna be yours. Your challenge for this week is to set one boundary and communicate it clearly. One response time expectation, one, work hour boundary. One internal rule about protecting your focus time and then stick to it even when it feels uncomfortable. You can also find me on Instagram at exclusively, Cindy, where I share daily reality checks for overwhelmed entrepreneurs, including boundary setting tips, just like the ones we talked about today. I want you to remember that when everyone else thinks that your time is theirs, you need to reality check what's actually yours to protect your time, your business, your rules. Now go set that boundary and remember you've got this.

Thanks for spending these few minutes with me today. Remember, overwhelm isn't permanent. It's simply your brain's way of saying pause and take a little reality check. If this was helpful, you'll love my weekly email tips where I share the systems that keep me and hundreds of other entrepreneurs on Track Link in the show notes. If you got value in today's episode, please share it with another entrepreneur who needs that reminder. If you're loving the show, I'd be so grateful if you could leave me a quick review. It helps other overwhelmed entrepreneurs find us. Make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss your weekly dose of clarity. For more resources and to connect with me, visit exclusively cindy.com. Until next time, remember you've got this.