Although it’s only three lines, I often get questions about my out-of-office reply—because it states that I reply to email on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Other business owners are often quietly inspired by this, but also puzzled: how can I even run a business with this (limited) availability?

The ability to decide when, how and where they work is one of the reasons many small business owners start their business in the first place. Yet this flexibility doesn’t prevent burnout: research suggests that 40% of small business owners experience poor work-life balance or feel like they’re working too much or too hard.

While countries such as France, Belgium and Australia have enshrined “the right to be unavailable” into law— Australia even for the employees of small businesses —there are no such laws for small business owners. There’s no shortage of advice on boundaries for employees , but what if you’re the manager and employee at the same time? We decide on our availability; and that often means we make ourselves as available as possible, as often as possible: on the weekends, in the evenings, while we’re trying to tend to other demands. This, we have been taught, is what it means to run a business: to be always “on,” to hustle, to overwork.

But growing numbers of small business owners realize that this approach is unsustainable, and that there’s more to life than work. Many of the small business owners and freelancers I work with come to me because they want or need a different way of running their business—and setting boundaries around their availability is a key part of that.

Being available may have become the cultural norm, but it frequently leads to burnout and mental health challenges that can even put the business itself at risk. If you’re a small business owner, your business is nothing without you. And that also means that you get to set the rules.

Here are three ways to start setting boundaries around your availability.

Start To Set Boundaries Around Your Availability

1. Decide When You Want To Be Available

If you’ve never really set boundaries around availability, this is scary. Start small. Think about the past two weeks: when did you feel stressed, or spread thin because you were trying to work and do something else at the same time? This can be the starting point for your boundary: for instance, to not check work emails after a certain time in the evening; or to put your phone in another room when you’re with your kids.

2. Communicate Your Availability

Boundaries are nothing if you don’t communicate them. The good news is that the majority of people won’t mind not getting a reply at 9 p.m.—as long as they know when they can expect one instead. If you have employees, communicate your new boundaries with them (which also encourages them to set their own). Use your website, your out-of-office reply and your store page to communicate when you’ll reply to emails, when you’re available for appointments, and when you’ll be shipping products.

And remember: this doesn’t need to be all day, or even every day. If you’re a solopreneur especially, you’ll also need time to work on your business: to formulate strategy and make plans for the future, for instance—as well as do work that is not customer-facing, like marketing. Having calls and other distractions in between will only prevent you from doing important deep work .

When you’re setting boundaries, scheduling software is your friend—it also makes setting appointments that much more efficient. When someone schedules a call with you through software they won’t see why you’re not available at a certain time; they’ll just see when you are available. That makes it really easy to prevent appointments when you really want to be taking a lunch break (away from your desk!), or attend an afternoon fitness class. Scheduling software also keeps you from having to reiterate your boundaries again and again in person, when it’s easy to backtrack on them and lose courage.

How To Set Boundaries For A More Sustainable Business

Clearer boundaries around your availability are not just good for you, but also for your business: when you’re not trying to multitask, you’re able to be more intentional and focused, make fewer mistakes and actually be more productive . They also make for a healthier, more sustainable business in the long run. And, as ideas and values about work and overwork are shifting , limiting your availability might just become the norm.