Finding Work Life Balance as a Creative Entrepreneur

The Creativity & Heart Podcast – Episode 5

Life as a creative entrepreneur is busy. Here are a few tips for finding work life balance to make things a little easier.

Without balance, you’re probably feeling stressed out to the max.

In complete honesty, I still haven’t figured out how to achieve work life balance in my own life. It’s something that I’m working towards and I do believe it’s important.

Raise your hand if you can relate to any of these situations:

• Ending the day with the feeling like you didn’t get enough done
• Feeling like you have to be chained to your computer just to accomplish something
• Wishing you could sneak away long enough just to get one blog post written, or
• Feeling guilty because you feel like you didn’t spend enough time present (whether physically or virtually) with those you love. 

Having a sense of balance that allows you to serve well and feel well rested is important.

I’ll get to this more in a bit, but it’s important not to be too hard on yourself here. We so often have a million things to do, but feel like there’s not enough time to get it done. There’s too many distractions pulling us away.

What would life be like if instead we felt like we had exactly enough time to do what actually needs to get done?

Life looks different for everyone, so be realistic about what work-life balance means to you. 

I think we imagine some idealistic version of work-life balance, then feel guilty because we can’t achieve it.

But realistically, everyone is living their own life, with its own unique set of responsibilities and challenges. It’s okay if that Pinterest hack that worked for the mom down the street didn’t actually help you be more productive. 

I’m a single dog mom who graduated from college a year ago. So, if you’re a mom of two, it wouldn’t be fair to compare your life to mine. 

(Even if you happen to be a single dog mom, comparing doesn’t actually help us solve our own problems, okay? Go listen to episode 2, “22 Lessons I’ve Learned as a Young Entrepreneur” for more on comparison.

At the end of the day, we all want to feel like we accomplished something and made an impact. 

So if we’re too stressed and too busy, but we’re trying to be realistic and not achieve someone else’s ideal, what’s our end goal? 

I’d argue that when people are talking about wanting to find work life balance, they are really saying that they don’t feel fulfilled by their daily lives.

The route of the problem is usually that we’ve gotten our priorities are out of line.

We have exactly enough time to do what’s meant to get done. The challenge is knowing what those priorities are, having a (reasonable) plan to get things done and enjoy life outside of work, and leaving breathing room for the challenges of life that are inevitably going to come up. (Because let’s face it: life can be pretty unpredictable.)

Joanna Gaines shared a fresh perspective on tips for finding work life balance in this article. In a nutshell, she believes that it’s possible to have separate time dedicated to work and family. She also says that it’s okay to blend the two together when needed.

Your routines, organization, and even your website can affect how your days go by allowing you to focus your time and attention on what matters most. 

Like I said, I definitely don’t have this whole work life balance thing figured out at all yet. I’m walking this journey as a creative entrepreneur with you!

And if you asked my mom…she’d probably call me a workaholic. I love to say “yes!” and take on all the work I can (but that’s a topic for another episode). 

Even though I don’t have it all figured out, and your life probably doesn’t look anything like mine, here are a few tips for finding work-life balance that have helped me:

#1: Knowing how long it will take me to do things, and not just what I need to get done.

This helps me to prevent myself from creating a mile-long to-do list each day that I can’t realistically accomplish.

#2: Getting Organized.

Find systems that work for you, and stick to them! It also helps to automate any tasks that you do over and over again. Google Calendar, Trello, Dubsado, and Google Drive are some of my go-to tools for helping things run smoothly in my business.

Getting organized takes some time, but once you have your systems in place it will save you lots of time in the long run!

#3: Having a quality website that works for me.

So I know that it probably sounds like I’m saying this just because I’m a web designer. But I honestly believe that a quality website can be a game-changer in a business. Especially if you’re a solopreneur who’s doing #allthethings yourself. I wouldn’t be offering my services if I didn’t.

Here’s just a few ways that my website and tools integrated with my site save me time. I can eliminate some of the time wasters in my business, and still serve y’all well – even when I’m not working: 

1. My website makes it clear what I do & who I serve, so that when people find me on Google, they know if they’re in the right place. My services page clearly lays out all the important info potential clients need to know about my custom web design package. This clarity keeps me from having to answer the same questions over and over, or wasting potential clients’ time.
2. I built my website using Showit (the same platform I use for clients), and since it’s easy to edit, I don’t spend hours trying to resolve tech issues or Googling how to make updates.
3. Flodesk is my email marketing platform of choice. Anyone who subscribes via my site is automatically added to my list and sent any freebies they opt-in for. 
4. Dubsado makes client on-boarding easier, and integrates with my website. When someone fills out the contact form on my website, they automatically receive an automated response from me with resources until I can respond with a more personalized message.

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes sneak peek for y’all!

I’m working on a special offer that will launch at the beginning of September. If you’re ready to get a site that works for you & get organized in your business, this is for you:

When you book my Custom Showit Web Design Services, you’ll also receive access to my Trello for Creatives mini-course! Stay tuned for more details on that.

What will you do this week to move one step closer to living a life you love?

Will you set a timer while you work to figure out how long it actually takes you to do things? Or can you get rid of unnecessary tasks in your business so that you can spend more time with family? Whatever you’re going to try, please share with me!

You can find me on Instagram @mayapalmerdesigns. I will be making a post about this episode. You can leave your comment there or feel free to DM me!

Free Quiz: Brand + Site Checkup

Do you love serving your clients and using your passions to make an impact, but find yourself struggling? It’s not just you – being the owner of a growing business isn’t always easy peasy, lemon squeezy. 

What if a strategic, beautiful website that works for you was part of the solution to getting you back on track towards building the business you want? You could take a sigh of relief and log off to spend more time doing what you love (or at home with those you love). 

If you want to see how well your current brand + site is serving your business take my free Brand + Site Checkup quiz. Based on your result, I’ll recommend a freebie to help you!