Successful Creatives
Successful Creatives
26. Master Boundaries for a Balanced Business
Let’s explore what this might look like for you…
Because this is a beautiful time of year. If you’re anything like me, you’re excited to dive back in. You’re rested and feeling creative and inspired…and also perhaps feeling a nudge from you bank account to get back to work, too!
At this point in the year, it’s easy to forget that - fast forward a few months - the end of the season doesn’t look and feel this way to most of us. We’re up late finishing client work, exhausted and stretched but also compelled to take bookings NOW as they come, like squirrels saving up for a long, hard winter.
So what’s the key to a healthy balance so that you can maintain your creativity, your inspiration, balance AND profits?
Boundaries.
Connect with Erica
@theewingsstudio
Episode blog post
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Today, I want to talk to you about maintaining boundaries in your business and why this is so important. If you are looking to grow stress free and really serve your clients in a way that feels good for both you and for them.
Let's face it, most of us would rather be creating art than running a successful business, but we can 100% do both. My name is Erica Ewing. I'm a wedding photographer in sales and marketing expert for creative entrepreneurs. I'm here to help you define the life of your dreams and create a business that supports just that. Welcome to the Successful Creatives podcast.
This topic feels like an important one to me, because right now, if you're in an area where you're at the start of your wedding season, the start of your busy season. If you're not in the wedding industry, it feels like spring leading into summer is when a lot of businesses peak, where in May things are feeling busy. Life is feeling busy. If you're a parent, sports are feeling busy right now. We're starting with weddings and we're also starting with baseball season. We have a lot of baseball over here. It also feels like people come out of the woodwork like friends, family, sort of everybody comes out of the woodwork in the spring when the weather starts to get nice, especially if you were in a highly seasonal area like I am, the Boston area. It's been gray and gloomy and rainy for months.
I was just chatting with a photographer in Ireland yesterday and she said that their entire winter is just gray in gloom. So as things start to get busy, and this is an important episode you might want to relisten to at the beginning of the summer or at the end of the summer. I mean, when September starts to approach like the busiest time of year, it really feels like fall for everything, right? September to December. You want to make sure that your boundaries are crystal clear. So I'm going to dive into a few ways that you can do this, and when I'm talking about boundaries, I mean boundaries with your clients but also boundaries with yourself too. Because this is an area where I've definitely slipped up, I still to this day have to remind myself to hold my own boundaries, to honor my own boundaries that I've set for myself. Because for me, when I don't set my boundaries and stick to them, that's when I start to feel overwhelmed. That's when my anxiety spikes and I start doom-scrolling. Nobody wants that, nobody benefits from a doom-scroll. I'm going to start with the boundaries that you should set for yourself and with yourself.
The first one has to do with work hours, and this is so important. If you are someone like me who works from home because there is no real start or end to your day. So it's up to you to create a start and end to your day. This gets to work around your availability and your peak work schedules. For me now with older kids, I really like to stick to the hours of 9 to 5. My latest appointment is only available on certain days and it ends at 6 p.m.. I have an automated scheduler that sets these dates that makes these dates available to my clients, and it's pretty incredible. From someone who used to think that I needed to be working off hours because everybody, all my clients, worked 9 to 5. When I started showing up with an automated calendar that showed my availability from 9 to 5. It's pretty incredible how many people were able to make that work now. Sure, every so often I have a potential client or a client who can't meet within that “normal” 9 to 5 time, and I'm happy to oblige and make something available for them because it's not the norm. It’s something that happens once in a great while because I've set a boundary of when I am available. This is a boundary for myself, and this is also a boundary for my clients. And once that is set in stone through an automated scheduling app and through some sort of routine that you create through, whether it be like a calendar reminder, it's time to shut down now, or you take a certain action before you sign off for the day. Really create hours that work for you and stick to that.
Now, if you are in a time in your life where maybe evenings are best, maybe you work 9 to 5 and your availability to work on your business is something more like 6 to 10 p.m., then that's your availability. That's when you create times that you can meet with clients. That's when you focus on your work blocks, your time blocks, that sort of thing. But really stick to this. Some of the ways that you can is again, by creating an end action that you take before you end your day, whether it be you check your email 1 last time, and then you commit to not checking your email again until the next morning. A lot of times if I am anxious, I'll check my email on repeat and it's awful. It just creates this feeling of overwhelm. And when I tap into and honor my boundaries and say, nope, I am off schedule. I am at my son's baseball game. I am here to be fully present, and I turn my email off and I check it the next morning. I am always serving my clients so much better and honoring my space in my boundaries fully. This will help you prioritize your time by turning everything off outside of those hours.
If you struggle with social media, with popping into Instagram or TikTok, or, you know any app that takes you away from being present in your life outside of work. Take those apps off your phone. It's okay to take a break from time to time. Or like Ben, has he fully removed his Facebook app from his phone because he found that it was not serving him emotionally and it was sucking his time because he would pop on there, want to connect and end up scrolling and wasting like an hour. It's crazy how much time we waste on these apps, so if that's something that you struggle with, remove the app from your phone. Remove access to your email from your phone. When you do this, you're going to show up more fully during your work hours.
Journal. This is a big 1 in maintaining boundaries. You might be wondering, Erica, how does journaling help maintain boundaries? Well, 1 gets all of the junk out of your mind. If you have thoughts that are just on repeat in your brain. If you are someone like me who has a million different ideas that they want to incorporate into your business, don't let that take up space in your mind. This is how you can set a boundary within your own mind, by journaling. Write out those ideas. I actually have multiple notebooks. 1 of them is for my business ideas, things I want to incorporate into my programs. 1 of them is more for things that are like stressing me out outside of work. That's more of like a mind dump to get it out. When you journal and you take the things that are stewing in your brain and you put them out in an external resource like that, this is a huge outlet, and it's a huge way to create a boundary within your own mind. A little bit of woo for me. Take breaks. Honor your contribution to your work every day, and notice when you're starting to feel burnt out. This can happen on a daily basis, like burnout can be just a small moment where you realize that you maybe you. If you're a photographer like me, maybe you've been editing for a while and all of a sudden you find normally you edit pictures and like 5 seconds an image, and now it's like 30s in image and you're taking forever working on each one. This is a sign that you need a break. This is a boundary that you really should set. This goes for vacations too. Definitely for me in my life. I need deep, deep breaks. When I go on vacation, I have to take my laptop because it's like my binky, but I will very much be super mindful to not use it. I just took a break. I went to South Carolina for April vacation with my family, and I brought a book, a nonfiction book, and or was it a fiction? I can never remember the difference. It was a story. And every morning I would wake up and instead of work, I would read the story.
I can't even tell you how relaxed. I came back to work the next Monday, completely ready to work because I gave myself a break. During your breaks put your out of office on. My out of office is always on, I try to keep them fun. They're always really light. It's very much like there's no need to feel guilt or shame from taking time away from your business, because when you realize that you truly do it, it serves you. It makes you a stronger creative. It makes you a stronger business person, a better client service person when you can take breaks and fully refresh. So have fun with your out of office. Resolve to not check email if that feels best for you, or if you are someone who feels better. When you do check in on a daily basis, resolve to let it be once a day, twice a day. You get to set your own boundaries here and make your own rules for what serves your business. So think about what honestly, what serves your business and then, you know, put that into action for yourself.
My last tip for you when it comes to, you know, honoring boundaries with yourself is to find a passion or like an extracurricular activity that really inspires you outside of work. Something that will light you up, I think, too, as creatives. So much of our passion and purpose is tied up into our work. But you've got to have something outside of work so that you can look forward to doing that too. Right. You can release your mind from all of these work thoughts that may weigh you down and do something that's light hearted. Do something that takes the pressure off and refuels your creative energy. Okay. That covers boundaries, with your, like, own personal self. And when you look at a business owner who holds themselves to these sorts of boundaries, this is when you really start to create a stress free atmosphere. This is when you can take time off from work and feel good about it. This is when you can shut down at 5 p.m. and have dinner with your family and not be constantly consumed with work in your to do's and your clients and your bookings or non bookings. Boundaries equal freedom.
Okay, now, on the flip side, let's talk about how we can set boundaries with clients. A lot of your boundaries that you will set will come from the school of hard knocks.I'm going to share some that I have set in my business too, to maybe help you if you haven't, if you haven't run into some of these obstacles. Just by showing up and serving your clients, you're going to realize some of the areas where you really need to set boundaries, and they're designed not to, like, punish clients or punish yourself. They're designed to make sure that the both of you are on the same page, because when you show up on the same page as your client, that's when they're going to get a deeper experience with you in a deeper appreciation of you, and you're going to have a deeper sense of gratitude for your clients, and you're going to want to show up for them.
So what are some of the policies you can implement? For me. This was my very first 1. My 1st boundary is that I don't give my cell phone number out to my clients. This might seem mind blowing. Whenever I see comments of people who have stressed out clients texting them at all hours of the day and night. This is exactly why I created this boundary even before I started my photography business. So after I left my marketing career behind, I had like a gap year before I started my photography business and I worked in real estate. And at that point I gave out my cell phone number and wow, did I see the worst case scenario of what could happen when you give people your cell phone number, it's just an invitation to contact you whenever they want, right? And there's no ill intentions. Your clients aren't meaning to, like, hit you up at a time that isn't convenient for you, but you've given them access to you 24/7. So when it's on their mind is when they're going to send the message whether or not you're working at that time.
Right. So in real estate, I once had this client who was texting me all hours of the day, including like 11:30 p.m., 5 a.m. the next day. It's a high stress environment, right? Like it's significantly more stressful than wedding pictures or pictures. But this taught me that it does not serve me to give open ended 24/7 access to my clients. I can serve them better when they can contact me through the channels that work best for me. There's no service lost on that. Right. This is also how I ensure I don't ever miss their messages too. Because with text messages coming in when you're not working, or maybe it's Instagram messages is the thing that you always miss. For me, I miss a lot of Facebook messages too, so I really try to drive people to contact me through the channels that I know I can show up for. That is our studio phone line. We use Vonage. Google has free phone numbers that you can use that will direct to your cell phone if you want them to. Mine don't. But I also have an assistant who manages that phone line too. So phone and email is work. What works best for me? Lately I've been using Instagram more because it's been bringing me more joy. But however, it feels good to serve your clients and to have them contact you, that is a big 1.
If you have clients standing you up for things. Like sessions or appointments or, you know, anything like that. Weave in some policies, weave in some even potential additional charges and let them know in advance. Okay. Sometimes I don't have this issue in my business, but I hear a lot that, you know, people will have like no shows. So if you end up saying the cost to reschedule this appointment is $50, even though it's not a huge amount, that sort of thing just helps hold them accountable, hold your clients accountable because you're making the time for them. So make sure that they will make the time for you. For portraits and mini sessions, session fees are non-refundable. I do have a flexible reschedule policy because I want my clients to have the best results. So if the weather is not going to be cooperative, if their child wakes up and has a runny nose or a fever, I don't want them to have their session because they're not going to have great results. Our experience is all about, you know, stemming from the great results and the great session that they're going to have. So I have a flexible reschedule policy, but I have a very firm no show policy. Their session fee is non-refundable. I showed up, I'm there to serve. I am there to create what they hired me to create. So I've done my portion and their portion is like the fee. That's the value exchange, right?
I mentioned it already, but create a calendar with available times within your work schedule and know that if they need something outside of that range, they'll let you know. You're not going to lose bookings because your original availability didn't line up with theirs. If you are losing bookings for that, then you've got more work to do. Definitely on your messaging and getting really clear on who your right fit clients are.
Okay, then the last thing when it comes to maintaining boundaries with clients. And this is probably the most important 1. This is more important than policies, than charges, than automatic calendars is really proactive communication. So the very best way that you can maintain healthy boundaries that serve your clients and serve you is by letting your client know exactly what to expect all along the way. Every step of the process, they should be getting some sort of update quick, easily. Not like massive PDFs or, you know, documents that they have to read, but very easily. Here's what's coming up next. Here's what to expect. Here's the boundary that we are setting in this moment, this peace, this proactive communication works for every piece of your business, for every aspect of your business, whether that be. Your initial inquiries. How can you proactively communicate with them to let them know what's next and guide them through your booking process, through getting to know you more, through how you're going to serve them then once they become a client onboarding.
What's the communication here? What are the steps and the things that they need to know at every single process? This is also how you cut down on the questions in the emails. Like people get irritated by small questions that they feel like should be obvious. If you're getting asked a question repeatedly and it's one that you think is obvious, the answer is in the data. It's not obvious, right? Your clients have questions, so create more proactive communication with them that will keep you from always being reactionary and will help you serve them on a deeper level. Follow these steps, and these boundaries are going to help take you from overworked and stressed out and potentially resentful of your clients to a place where you feel really good about your business. Things feel very stress free, and you feel like you're serving at your highest capacity. It's really setting those boundaries, creating your work hours, turning off anything that's pulling you back in like email or social in your off hours. Right? Like really being present with your off hours, taking time to refuel, whether that be on a daily basis, taking short breaks or the deeper relaxation that comes from complete shutdown of work, time away, vacation, travel and the communication. Really, truly the communication. Your clients will respect you for your boundaries when they get a fun out of office from you. They had a quick question, and they hear that you're at the beach with your kids, they're going to be happy for you.
If you're telling yourself that clients can only meet with me at 8 p.m., but you don't want to be meeting at that time because that's your kid's bedtime. Start offering appointments only until 5 p.m.. Just see what happens. A lot of times these are limiting beliefs that we tell ourselves, but they're not actually the truth. Okay. And then journal. Get all the junk out. Create boundaries within your own mind so that you can show up as the most successful creative that you are.
Hey, are you a wedding pro? Who wants to stop wondering where your next ideal wedding is coming from? If you crave a stress free way to attract the wedding inquiries that you really want without needing to be on social media constantly, and you're ready to step into the sought after, fully booked wedding business you know that you're capable of, then I would love to invite you to the Magnetic Marketing Mastery. This is a unique experience that gives wedding pros the marketing systems and strategies that I've used in my own business, and taught 1 on 1 to help you create a business that is irresistible to your ideal clients. So that you can attract more of the clients that you want and ultimately increase your profits. I'm all about making dreams come true over here. If this is something that you are interested in learning more about, head to magneticweddingpro.com.