Our community is filled with hard-working, high achieving entrepreneurs and creatives and so work-life balance is a complicated, but highly relevant topic. We’ve shared some responses from the community about work life balance and how their views have evolved over time below.

Kim Sovik-siemens | Interior Designer|Home Stager

Work life balance has changed a great deal for me over the years. When I used to be in Corporate America they always preached this holy grail of work life balance that never really felt balanced. I used to think if I could just grind away until the work day was done and then go and try and find some joy in my non working hours (and try and separate work from my brain) then that was balance. The evolution of raising a family and starting a business has everything entangled into one. I now realize that balance for me, is all about setting boundaries and prioritizing what matters most. My family is always number one but I have set up a schedule for myself and my business that allows me to be present with my girls when they are home, and be fully immersed in my projects when I need to be.  Read more>>

Alanna Peters | Visual Artist

Work life balance is something I feel we use now to describe our struggle at finding harmony in our lives. I don’t actually believe that there is a work-life balance, but rather that it is all just your life and you make choices that fill you up or drain you. This harmony is also constantly evolving as life changes around you and presents new challenges and opportunities. I think that the way I try to find harmony is by making conscious choices to carve out time for certain things and doing my best to protect those times. It doesn’t always work perfectly, but when you make the choices to make things happen, they will happen. Read more>>

Maddie Webb | Operations Manager and Yoga Teacher

It can be challenging while working for a startup to think about balance, especially when the company has a mission that you really care about. We help students reach their full potential, so when a student calls you and needs help finishing their work or planning their week at 9pm, you answer the phone, even if you’ve already worked a 12 hour day before that. When I realized that I had to push myself to find a better balance in my life is when I realized that I was not embodying the advice I was giving to students. In order for the students I work with to be happy and healthy and succeed in school, they need to be involved. Being involved can mean volunteering in their community, making time for plans with friends throughout the week, joining clubs or sports, finding a job, or making time for their hobbies and interests. Whatever avenue called to them was fine by me, as long as their whole life wasn’t school. But, for a while, my whole life became work. I couldn’t use my own experience as an example anymore, and my students had started to notice. Read more>>

Cecily North-rudow | Certified Travel Associate

When I started my travel career I was in my mid-30s and had already been in my full-time career for ten years. I wasn’t really focused on my travel business in the beginning. But after a few years of not seeing growth in my business I decided it was time for a change. I have invested in my business, my education and myself to make it what it is today. But now I have a child who is the most important thing in my life and I have made decisions around my business and what I commit to in order to have time with her. I have worked really hard to get where I am today, and I want to show my daughter that you can have a career, love what you do, and be there for your family. Being in my mid-40’s now I don’t take anything for granted. I know our time is precious and I make sure to focus on my family and my personal life, and work my business as a business. It’s not always 50/50 but I feel good about how I use my time. Read more>>