Four-day work weeks sound great in theory. Getting to work less and having three-day weekends every week? Who would say no to that?

But as a small business owner, you probably have serious worries about being able to get everything done in a shorter amount of time. What about keeping your clients happy? Can you really make enough money by working four days a week?

We were curious if the model could work in this specific context. So as a small business with these needs ourselves, we decided to conduct a six-week trial of working only Mondays through Thursdays.

At the end of the trial period, the feedback from our team was unanimous: the four-day work week was a resounding success, and we made the policy permanent. Not only were all of us happier and better rested, there wasn’t a single negative impact on the business.

In this episode, Holistic Business Academy founder and business coach Sarah M. Chappell discusses how the Holistic Business Academy was able to make a four-day work week possible for a small and busy three-person team with a significant amount of client-facing work. She covers why we decided to make the change, her biggest worries and what actually ended up happening, the most important takeaways from the shift, and rules and guidelines for cultivating success.

Tune in to learn how you can work less, accomplish just as much as you did before, keep your customers happy, and most importantly, support your well-being with a four-day work week.

TIME STAMPS

1:13—How did we end up with standard five-day work weeks?2:48—Why HBA decided to shift to a four-day work week5:24—Sarah’s biggest concerns and what actually happened14:22—The most important takeaways from the switch16:45—A few rules for deriving the most benefit from a four-day work week20:18—How to set clear expectations for your customers

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com