By far the most common conversation we have with the folks we interview is about work-life balance. Starting a business or pursuing a creative career makes finding work life balance really tough because there is no clear start and end to one’s work day. We’ve shared some of our conversations on the topic below.

Ajeng Mahardiyanti | Photographer and Lead Laboratory Technologist

Feeling burnout is the ultimate trigger for me to create my own work-life balance. Working full time as a Lead Laboratory Technologist takes most of my days and sometimes I have to bring work to home. Soon enough I realized that it’s not an ideal situation for me to work more than 40 hours a week and not having some time for myself. That was how I started going back to my hobby in reading and photography. Read more>>

claire thatch | Real Estate Agent & Registered Nurse

I started my business while in nursing school, which is a beast in itself without trying to be an entrepreneur. I definitely struggled with setting aside time for myself, let alone my business. I’ve since graduated, and now that I’ve started my career I find it a bit easier to make time for my business. Some weeks are harder than others, but you really have to push yourself to get things done. Read more>>

Kamaya Tarpley | Horror/Dark Fantasy Author & Freelance Writer

When I first began my career as an author, I took everything full force. I was advertising constantly on social media, making my product the center, and eliminating my personality from the sales portion of writing novels. I was worried more about writing than I was about my self. Over time, I got tired of this and ended up integrating my personality into social media and cut down on ads. Now, I sell more books than I did before and it just goes to show that you have to make your career part of your life not your whole life to find balance. Read more>>

Taylor Beemon | Beauty queen. Wife. Mama.

In 2021 I became a wife and a mom within 7 months of each other. My work life balance changed in a way to where at that stage in my life I did not want to do anything that did not have to do with and support my family roles. I made changes in my work life that allowed me to focus on wifehood and motherhood more because that’s what was important to me. Now that I have found my groove I’m reevaluating my work desires again and what that balance could look like as life develops. Read more>>

Breonna Ousmane | Entrepreneur & Educator

As eager as I was to create a successful business, overtime I realized how important it is to have balance. Especially as a young adult you have this fear of either missing out or that you are in some type of race. In the beginning stages of my business I have dedicated majority of my time to my brand forgetting about what I like to do outside of work. This alone caused me to have burnout to the point I had no choice but to focus on my well being, now I like to take my weekends off to focus on my social/personal life. Read more>>

Sasha “Jas” Guy | Esthetician & Bartender

Honestly it’s not balance. When working for yourself you are the assistant, manager, payroll, HR and everything above, unless you hire someone. My balance has changed because I force myself to take time off so I won’t burn out from working so hard. Read more>>