Try these simple boundaries for work-life balance

What is work-life balance, really? At the end of the day? Not only does it seem like work-life balance is trending with all the celebrity online business owners these days talking about how they run multi-million dollar businesses in part-time hours. Thankfully, you don’t need that kind of operation to have better work-life balance.

So that’s what we’ll dig into here. Entrepreneurs, especially working mamas like myself, are faced with a unique set of challenges when it comes to work-life balance. But there are boundaries you can set now for better work-life balance, no matter how big or small your online business is.

This blog post will cover topics like:

• The meaning of work-life balance.
• What work-life balance can look like for entrepreneurs.
• Simple boundaries I set for better work-life balance as an entrepreneur.
• Why work-life balance is important

The meaning of work-life balance

What is the meaning of work-life balance? I asked some entrepreneurs who took my course, Align + Integrate, what it would mean for them to have better work-life balance. Here’s some of the responses they shared…

Alignment with work and life is…

“Alignment between my business and lifestyle would look like working less but earning much more. It would mean that I can fully unplug when we travel and when the workday is over.”

“Having flexibility. Making my own schedule to be as flexible as possible. Also having enough income to be flexible in the clients I take on.”

“I would like to work in the “middle of the day.” Have slow mornings, and be done working by mid afternoon so I can do my self care and healing work I still need to be consistent with to work on my self-worth. Experiencing major confidence issues right now.”

What I gather from these responses is that work-life balance and alignment between your work and life varies in the details for everyone. And that’s a beautiful thing. My conclusion, of course, is that you get to define the meaning of work-life balance for you, then take the steps to achieve that ideal lifestyle.

Why work-life balance is important

Why is work-life balance important? Overall, you’ll do better work at work, and feel more fulfilled in life. Maybe this is redundant, but let’s do a quick reminder of all the benefits of work-life balance:

• A healthier, fuller life that prioritizes life first.
• More energy and enthusiasm for life.
• Avoid burnout from pushing yourself too hard.
• Easier to achieve your goals from a restful state.
• A clearer sense of self because you have interests outside of work.

The above are just a few anecdotal benefits I’ve personally experienced. I’d love to hear from you though… What else would you add to this list?

Work-life balance for entrepreneurs

If you‘re an entrepreneur who started your business for freedom, but now you’re stuck and sick of feeling like you’re chained to your desk—constantly behind and never able to truly unplug from your business, this is for you.

I am not about the hustle life… At least not without intention. YES there will be seasons where you are required to work more/do more/accomplish more, but those should only be SEASONS. Not the norm.

Rather than hustling constantly, I focus on doing work with meaning and impact. That’s how we’ll find better work-life balance as entrepreneurs.

But where do you start to make the changes required for better work-life balance as a driven entrepreneur? I’ll use my story as an example to guide you.

I used to have no work-life balance

When I first started building my freelance copywriting business, I was sick of all the things we typically accept with freelancing… Feast and famine, checking emails all hours of the night… I literally would wake up in the middle of the night and reply to emails… Working 10-12 SOLID hours each day… Not even stopping for lunch. If you’re there right now, I totally get it. It’s a lot!

Slowly, I started implementing changes to reclaim the space in my days. More recently, I got even more strict about my boundaries when I became a mom. I’m a full time mom and business owner determined to have both. All.

And you can’t have ALL without boundaries—a lesson that I have learned and live by now.

Luckily, the hustle and hours that put in leading up to here is how I gained experience. Trial and error, figuring things out, learning on the job—all of that paid off eventually. Although in hindsight, I could have been more focused at times in order to have better work-life balance sooner. It didn’t need to be SUCH a grind.

Work-life balance as a full-time mom and business owner

So I told you that I used to work A LOT. I prided myself in my work… In how much I accomplished at the end of every day. I know now that I attached my worth to how many things I could cross off my list (hey, my fellow high-achievers 👋), and while this is something that I’m still actively working on, becoming a mom has accelerated the process.

Slowly, I started to set better boundaries in my business, and I think that starting these habits prior to getting pregnant made a huge difference in my transition to combine motherhood and entrepreneurship. It’s been fairly smooth sailing since my baby was born almost a year ago, and I’m positive that’s because of the systems and boundaries set in place prior.

Work-life balance examples

What does work-life balance look like for me now? At the time of updating this blog post, I have 2 young boys. They need me a lot! So my work-life balance needed to adjust again in order to prioritize them first. Since realigning my business model to best fit my current season of life, the results are clear.

Now, my work fits nicely into my life as a full time mom. YES there are stressful days because it’s a lot to do both. But overall things feel more and more calm all the time.

👉 I’ve been able to grow my team and book out our services for months in advance at 4 to multi-5 figure rates.

👉 And I’ve reclaimed space in my days. That means I can make all of these things happen without letting taking care of myself fall to the side. I workout often, journal daily, and feel fulfilled at the end of most days.

Sure, there are some hard days. At the time of writing this, my baby still doesn’t sleep through the night (typical, of course!). On a good night, he’ll wake up 2-3 times. On a bad night, I’m a mama pillow all night long. SO I LITERALLY GET IT.

You get to design your ideal life

When you start a business or work for yourself, you get to design your ideal life. Isn’t that great? But that comes with the challenge of establishing boundaries… then sticking to them. It requires perseverance to maintain the boundaries that you set both with others and yourself. It’s good for you to show up for you every day, even on the days you’d rather go have a nap. And there are a lot of days that I think of having a nap.

I’m not saying all of us should keep pushing if we’re majorly sleep deprived—of course not. Take a nap. You do you! But I am positive that we have a choice every single day. You get to choose to show up for yourself. And isn’t having that power so freaking cool?

Work-life balance tips

If you’re struggling with no work-life balance as an entrepreneur or working mom, I see you. My best work-life balance tips all come back to learning how to establish and maintain better boundaries: In your business, with yourself, and with your family too.

The goal is to be able to give your work 100% when you’re on, then unplug entirely when you clock out too. No more taking work into the other parts of your day.

Flexible routines facilitate work-life balance

I don’t believe in rigid routines in my current season of life. Instead, I aim for flexible flows. Things that happen throughout the day, but not necessarily at the same time every single day because that’s impossible for me right now.

For example, I have a morning ritual. This doesn’t happen first thing in the morning all the time. Because my sleep is still inconsistent with a baby to care for, a rigid morning routine for work-life balance would cause more stress than good right now.

Learn how to prioritize what matters for work-life balance

Repeat after me: I can’t do it all. And you don’t need to. It’s a challenge of learning how to prioritize what matters for work-life balance. Your to-do list won’t end, and you don’t have all the time in the world to complete it. So what really needs to happen now? Then next? What isn’t worth your time?

Don’t aim for perfect work-life balance

Of course, you also need to be kind to yourself if things don’t go as planned. Perfection is impossible, so stop trying to achieve that. Instead, we aim for progress. Impactful, sustainable changes in how you operate day-to-day that will trickle into both your business and life.

With that in mind, let’s talk about boundaries for better work-life balance.

Boundaries to create work-life balance for entrepreneurs

Clear boundaries make all the difference when you work from home, like most solopreneurs or online business owners do. The following 4 business boundaries that I set have helped me develop a healthy work-life balance over the years.

Keep in mind that no one is perfect, and while I am committed to maintaining these as much as possible, there’s always times where flexibility and grace is required. You might set boundaries and not uphold them sometimes—that’s okay! The big picture is most important.

Here’s 4 business boundaries that I set to create work-life balance as an entrepreneur…

Dedicated office hours every day/week

This one is BIG! If you want better work-life balance as an entrepreneur, how do you expect to make that happen if you don’t actually have set office hours? The day that I set these boundaries, everything changed for the better.

Now, office hours are a strict boundary that I live by for both myself and my clients. No, I can’t reply to emails after hours because I’m not in my office. If I don’t let temptation win by going into my office late at night, then I won’t be in any kind of situation to reply. Basically, don’t tempt yourself!

There’s a handful of results that come from setting this work-life boundary:

• No resentment for clients emailing and expecting a reply at all hours of the day. They know that they’ll be taken care of within business hours. I don’t feel pressure to check and reply all night long anymore.
• No anxiety about needing to be attached to my inbox. I don’t even have Gmail open while I’m writing this post even though technically it’s within office hours. I’ll check my email before logging off in a few minutes.
• I can focus on being present in every moment. When I’m working, I’m working. When I’m emailing, I’m emailing. And I can focus on family or myself outside of those hours.

I’m sure there’s been even more results and benefits, but these are definitely the most impactful ones.

Turn off notifications on your phone

Kind of along the same lines, I no longer have notifications on my phone for most work-related apps. That means if I do get an email after hours, I won’t get that little ping in my pocket.

Currently, the only phone apps that can notify me of new messages are texts, calls, Messenger (personal page), and Voxer. Each of these are chosen for a reason.

• Friends and family will text, call, or DM me on Messenger. I don’t have clients on my personal Facebook page, so they never message there. And I don’t give clients my phone number because they honestly don’t need it!
• My team will Voxer me if something is urgent or an easy/quick question (or if they just want to chat because I like them).

Beyond that, my apps have to wait until I log in next.

You might be thinking: What happens if someone emails something urgent? There’s parameters in place for this…

• The team knows that emails are not the place for urgent messages.
• My assistant helps to manage my inbox. She basically screens things and lets me know if something looks urgent. This is especially helpful when I’m deep in Mom Mode and haven’t looked at my inbox for more than a day (it happens sometimes).
• Nothing on social media is truly urgent, so there’s no need to be interrupted with those notifications anyways.

It’s honestly so liberating when you realize that you DON’T need to be constantly attached to your devices, jumping at every ping.

No rush projects and implement minimum fees

Repeat after me: My rates and schedule are not up for debate.

More mantras along those lines:

• My free time doesn’t equal my availability.
• My services aren’t overpriced—they’re just out of your budget.
• Your lack of planning is not my emergency.

But actually… A lot of these could be applicable to all areas of life. Not just business. Am I right?

After a certain point, I realized that saying YES to everything… Taking last minute or rush jobs… Agreeing to small one-off jobs… Etc…. All of that was actually holding me back. The more time you spend busy with small bits and pieces, the less you have to dedicate to the big money makers in your business.

Think about it. You probably have a couple of services that really make the most impact. Then all these other things you say YES to just for the hell of it, but none of them are all that lucrative. In reality, you end up wasting a ton of time on peanuts versus the valuable tasks that drive the business forward.

Re: The 80/20 principle—a great book for entrepreneurs.

This is partially why I prefer to charge flat project rates over hourly rates. This way, I can ensure minimums are met, which means we typically won’t do an hour of work because it’s never truly just 1 billable hour of work. There’s so much more admin than goes into it that just 1 billable hour isn’t worth it.

I also don’t think that it matters how long something takes me and the team to complete. Clients are purchasing a result or deliverable, and our rates are priced fairly based on the results provided and the level of expertise.

When I started saying no to the little distractions, I freed up so much time in my calendar for projects and clients that are much more aligned.

No project talk on socials

This rule is simple: No DMing me about work after work hours. 

YES, you can DM me a funny meme, or tag me in a post that reminds me of you, or send a pic of your post-work wine in a virtual cheers. That’s totally different and I love chatting with clients about fun stuff. But often when I’m on social media, especially after office hours, I’m not really in work mode. I’m just hanging out here too. So if you send me something project-related on social media, there’s a chance that it will be forgotten and fall through the cracks.

To get my full brain, clients know to email me about the important stuff instead.

Work time is for work

This is a challenging boundary for me with my 2 boys around. I have a really hard time working while they’re awake! While most of my work is done while they’re sleeping, at the time of writing this I typically get 1 day per week of grandparent support so I can focus. But that means I need to hold this boundary with myself: Work time is for work.

I’m good at unplugging outside of work now. It’s so fun to hang out with my boys. But sometimes I need to physically leave the house so I can work without accidentally getting caught up with them.

Other aspects of this boundary include:

• Minimal personal phone use during focused work time.
• No chores and other responsibilities during my limited work hours.
• I take care of myself first so I can feel good and use this time to focus.

Work-life balance for entrepreneurs is possible

I’m a firm believer that as entrepreneurs, we get to call the shots. We’re in control of our destiny. We get to take action every single day. We GET to do the work that we do every day—isn’t that amazing?

An abundance mindset combined with some productivity tips and clear boundaries will help you achieve the work-life balance that you want.

Personally, I look at it as work-life integration over balance. I love what I do and I want it to fit around and align with my life as seamlessly as possible. That’s the goal, and so far it’s working.

Steal my schedule for better work-life balance

A common question: People wonder how I do all the things that I do—literally WHEN these things get done in the day to day. I put together a free download that answers this question along with a few others about when and how I work. Check out the 6-Figure Schedule here.

Happy boundary setting!