When our business literally fits in our hands and we work and live in the same space, it can be hard to find balance. Your mind is on work when you’re with family and on your family while you’re at work. What I’ve found over the years of working with creative entrepreneurs is that there are three pieces that are the key to building a burnout-free business…

But before you can even work toward better work-life balance, you have to decide what that looks like for you. There’s no right or wrong answer here. It’s your business, but you need to take time to think through what you need in your own life. For some, it might be 3-day work weeks. For others, it may just be shutting off on Sundays. Take time to reflect & decide.

Setting Expectations & Boundaries With Clients / Team Members

Setting expectations & boundaries is by far the most important thing you can do… I didn’t mention this in the episode, but one of the ways of doing this is creating a separate working space from where you relax. This is super important if you work from home. Psychologically, this will help you be more productive at work and more relaxed when you’re done because your brain knows what each space is used for.

This is a big reason why psychologists will recommend not watching TV in bed. If you can train your brain to think your bed is for sleeping, you’ll have an easier time catching up on your zzz’s. State-dependent memory is basically the idea that people will remember more information / perform better if their physical / mental state is the same when they first learn it and when they need to use it again. Context-dependent memory works similarly but takes environmental cues into consideration. So, separate your work & chill space. It doesn’t even have to be an entirely different room. If your office is your kitchen table, sit at a different chair, facing a different direction!

The tactics I walk through in this episode apply to any entrepreneur who can take their work anywhere because you face unique challenges. There are three steps within setting boundaries & expectations that we’ll walk through to help you strike a better balance & mentally separate from work. Listen to learn more.

If You Want a Burnout-Free Business, You Gotta Stick to Your Guns

If you don’t hold your boundaries firm, you’re doing a disservice both to yourself and to your clients. I share a specific study that shows people actually thrive with boundaries in case you’re a chronic people pleaser that needs reassurance. But if you don’t respect your boundaries, why should your clients?

Use Systems to Build a Burnout-Free Business

I’ll give you a few specific examples of ways you can use technology in your favor to help you truly take a step back while you’re not actively working. While entrepreneurs often put these systems / processes on the back burner in favor of more “urgent” tasks, I’m here to tell you… this is the most important thing you can do in your business today.

Giveaway Details

Creating these systems will save you hours later on and help you serve your clients even better than ever before. I believe in this so much that in honor of 14 years of entrepreneurship and 6 years in my current business, I’m giving away my Systems That Sell course to one lucky biz owner on July 17th, 2023. For instructions on how to enter, visit @creativebusinesscoach or @thecreativecantinapodcast on Instagram & look for the giveaway post pinned to the top!