It’s the age old question facing entrepreneurs: Is it possible to have a work/life balance?

With our world being so “plugged in”, it encourages small business owners to be accessible around the clock.

Stress from what feels like a never ending work day can be damaging to ourselves, as well as our relationships with others.

So it brings us back to the initial question:

How can you (successfully) juggle time allocated for work along with all other aspects of your life?

Today we are sharing tips to help keep burnout at bay and create a beautiful work/life balance.

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How to Create a Work/Life Balance?

Don’t Overbook Yourself

Not overbooking was the key for my business, but it took a few years to figure out what I could handle.

This meant I had to learn to say no to some things.

Contrary to popular belief, we do not have to do all the things.

I have been trying to focus on not overbooking myself and only saying “yes” to those things that are the best fit for me/my business/my family.

Because if you are saying yes to a lot of things, that means you have to say no to other things… and potentially you could be saying no to something that you really want to do.

We suggest that you determine what’s most important in your life.

This list will look different for everyone, so make sure it truly reflects the priorities in your life.

Next, draw firm boundaries so you can devote quality time to these high-priority people and activities.

That way you can make sure to give your best yes!

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Create an Efficient Workflow

Knowing what your process is from start to finish can really help keep you on track with where you are in a project.

And when we talk about a workflow, outline every step of what you do with a client.

From the time they make that initial inquiry, to when you write a thank you card at the end.

What does that process look like for you/your business?

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Have Set Work Time so You Don’t Feel Like You’re Missing Out

FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real thing.

Why would we want to go hustle and grind, when we know there’s something cool happening somewhere else?!

If you plan to have set working hours, then it creates a sense of urgency to get everything done within that time.

Then you can look forward to being “done with work” at a specific time, and have the ability to enjoy other things.

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Carve Out YOU Time

It’s important to remember that free time, doesn’t mean that you have to fill it with something.

Just because you have a free night open on the schedule, doesn’t mean you have to call around until you have a dinner outing with friends to fill it up.

It is healthy to turn down invitations and say no to other people, so you can have dedicated self-care/love time.

Schedule downtime for yourself and treat it just as reverently as you would any client appointment.

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Don’t Surf the Internet While Working

I’ll be the first to admit – I can be a bit of a squirrel when it comes to staying on task.

(oh look – shiny!)

And we all know how easy it is to get sucked into the black hole of the inter-webs, and before you know it, you are watching cat juggling videos!

But I do everything in my power to eliminate distractions while I’m editing.

I close my browsers, turn off sound notifications, and turn my phone upside down so I can’t see the screen.

This takes away my excuse for not working and allows me to have focused “work time” so I can accomplish the task at hand.

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Work to live, don’t live to work- only take on as much as you want!

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Take Your Business to the Next Level!

Now that you’ve had a chance to see our tips for a better work/life balance, we’d love to help in your photographic biz journey! Fresh Look Photography offers private mentoring to help with any aspect of running your business, and we’d love to chat with you! Feel free to drop a comment below or click the { Contact Me } button and we will get rocking and rolling!