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.

Mamie Pack | Entrepreneur, Educator & Writer

As a military wife, momma, educator and entrepreneur, change is the norm for my schedule. I have to be quick to adjust. In order to create a work life balance, I had to adjust to the demands of that season. There were a lot of strategies that others recommended, but were not effective or practical for my life demands. During deployments when my children were younger, my days were spent teaching our sons how to read and potty training, while hoping all was well with my hubby serving in the Navy on the opposite end of the world. I spent most of my time writing and working on our business in the late evenings in cities where we didn’t have family or community. Read more>>

Monica Conlin | Newborn & Family Photographer

My previous career I worked 12 hours shifts as a RN in a hospital setting. Although the job had many benefits and I enjoyed it, being able to create a work life balance for my family with young children was difficult. I didn’t get to see them on my work days and I missed special family events since I had to work weekends and holidays. This work life balance was one of the reasons I decided to change careers and start my own photography business. Now I am able to set my own schedule and prioritize my family over work, something that always felt very important to me. I am thankful for having the flexibility of setting my own hours, especially while they are still young. Read more>>

Autumn Buysse | Songwriter

If your work is what you love to do, I don’t see a problem with work being most of your life. If you spend your twenties taking time off, you’ll spend your thirties regretting the fact that you did. Read more>>

Brandon Harder | Artist, Craftsman, & Installer

Work life balance has been a hard thing to nail down and maintain. When my son was born almost three years ago, and we lived in Louisville, KY, I left my job to be a stay at home dad. In that time I worked when I could in my studio and did a few install jobs here and there. I even took the baby with me to a couple jobs! We moved to Decatur in May of 2019 and since then my work, both art installations and furniture and object commissions, has picked up considerably. Thankfully, my wife works from home and grandparents aren’t too far away allowing me to take on more travel jobs and, “during normal work hours” work. Before that I was confined to nap times and evenings. Read more>>

Hannah Lozano Agnone | Photographer

When I first started my business in 2015, I was working full time and my business was a side hustle. I literally was working nonstop, and this continued for several years. Over time, I realized how important it is for my overall health and wellness to take time off and relax. This was super hard when I was balancing two jobs, but taking my business full time and quitting my job helped with that a lot. Now, I’ve been able to get to a point where I can outsource a lot of the things that kept me working late every night, so I have time to do things like cook dinner and read and other things I felt like I didn’t have time for before. Read more>>

Toia Barry | NYC Lifestyle Influencer

Having a young child while working for yourself can be a challenge. The work-life balance can get a little tricky because you enjoy the flexibility of being home to spend time with your child but you also have to get work done! So, with the help of my husband, we’ve discussed a system that works for us. He encourages me to get out to a coffee shop or library to get work done, that way our son can understand that mommy is out working and is available on certain days and times. Read more>>

Kaleisha Hatchin Sonya Nicholson | Co- Owner

Balancing work and life has definitely been a challenge. Initially it was very hard finding time for ourselves, the business, and our families. After sitting down and making the conscious effort to schedule our time accordingly, we are able to balance work and life in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. As business owners, sometimes it’s hard to take off the business owner hat because there is always so much to do. But we’ve realized that if we give ourselves realistic expectations on how many hours a day you will dedicate to work, it makes the work life balance so much easier. Read more>>