ASLU 109: Setting Boundaries For Your Creative Business
Editor’s Note: Some links in this article may be affiliate links. Full disclosure is located at the end of the article.
This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations
Setting boundaries in your creative business (and your life) are key to ensuring you're happy, successful and mentally and physically well.
In this week’s episode Melissa is joined by regular co-host Heather Travis to talk about the key areas to look to and the questions to ask when you're determining what your boundaries are! At the end of the day you want to ensure you’re protecting your business, your mental and physical health, your important relationships, your privacy and your life outside of your business!
And as we discuss, setting the boundaries is the easy part. Enforcing those boundaries is the really tough part!
This Episode Is For…
This is a great episode for creatives who:
are feeling like everything is chaotic in their business and their life
feel like they're never getting anything accomplished or moving forward
are constantly saying yes at the expense of things that are important to them
are struggling with feelings of burnout or overwhelm
aren't living the life they thought they would be when they went to work for themselves
fear saying no
are people pleasers
If you just want the links to the resources mentioned in this episode, scroll down to the bottom.
You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com or on Instagram @mhchipmunk.
You can find Heather at heatherlynnetravis.com or on Instagram @heathertravis.
Listen To the Episode
Here’s a link to this week’s episode. You can also listen via the player below or on your favourite podcast app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and more). Just search for And She Looked Up!
protect your boundaries
in this episode we discuss:
boundaries around your work day/time/schedule
what kind of work day do you want to have?
will you have a firm start and/or end time to your day when you walk away and close the door?
how much flexibility do you need/want to build in and how will you put boundaries in place for that
will you have firm days/times for meetings? administrative tasks? shipping
will you have sacred creating time that can't be interrupted?
boundaries around your family/friends
how welcome is your family in your business?
will you have childcare to protect your work schedule? how welcome are your children in your studio/workspace? do you have simple systems in place to let them know when mum can't be disturbed and when it's ok for them to join you?
will you share images/stories about your family and friends on your social media as part of your work related content - do you have their permission and are you respecting their boundaries?
will you be setting aside time every day/week just for family and friends - how will you protect it?
boundaries around client interactions
how will you communicate with clients and customers? email? social media? only certain platforms?
will you give your clients your cell phone number or other ways that they can text or message you?
will you allow porch pickup at your home?
what hours will you communicate with clients? have you set up your website/social channels to let customers know you're away until a set time?
have you communicated your boundaries clearly to clients?
boundaries with social media - both as a business and a user
will you set a time limit on scrolling?
will you schedule content regularly and set a certain time each day to respond to DMs and comments?
are you following accounts that make you feel bad about yourself or your work or that trigger reactions that aren't who you are in real life?
will you schedule specific social media breaks or timeouts weekly or monthly?
boundaries for physical and mental health
will you set aside times to workout or move your body? will you protect them in your calendar?
will you set aside time to meditate or mindfulness practice? will you protect it in your calendar?
will you set aside time just for activities that clear your head, inspire you, or that you simply enjoy and protect them in your calendar
HOW will you protect the times you set aside for all your important business and personal activities? It's easy to slip and say yes to just one thing...and then two things and then all hell breaks lose!
Mentioned In This Episode:
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