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.

Lit Jones | Artist & Music Producer

I don’t do well with balance. When I think of balance, I think of something struggling to stay in a set position. I feel like imbalance gets things moving; you just learn to manage that imbalance. Everything has to be intentional. Without work, life seems pointless. It’s what makes everything else enjoyable for me, so my life revolves around my work. As far as management, the main focus has shifted toward organizing to be more focused and effective. Some ways I implement this is by keeping daily practice logs and setting reocurring timers to help my workflow. Read more>>

Demi Cartwright | Filmmaker, Photographer, & Educator

Honestly I used to be all work and no life. It was drilled into me as a kid that I wasn’t going to be successful unless I completely dedicated my life to my work or passion. Over time, I’ve realized a couple of things. The first being the whole “all work and no play” idea for success is just not true. The second being that there are more important things in life than work. I’m a huge advocate for mental health, and you just can’t be mentally healthy if you don’t have an even split between work and life. I also think that it’s important that you feel like work is a part of your life, in a good way. Read more>>

Angelica Olguin | Hair Stylist, Salon Owner

Balance is the hardest thing that I have had to learn to do. When I first started, I was young and inexperienced at running a business. Even though I had been in the hair industry for over 8 years, I just starting to learn what it meant to run a hair salon. I went from having a strong social life to being tied down to my business. I was busy trying to establish the salon and make everyone happy. My priority was to have a busy salon. Over time, I am happy to share that I was able to quickly learn the ins and outs of a salon. With patience, hard work and dedication I now have clientele and a full staff. Once reaching that goal, balance came into my life. A strict schedule allows me to balance everything, This allows me to make time for work and personal life, This gives me a chance to enjoy both sides of my life. Read more>>

Skye Lou | Product Designer

If you take “balance” in the universal sense (working only during office hours which is almost equal to leisure time) as the standard, then I am not balanced at all. My work and life is completely impossible to separate, and if you ask me what time I get off work, I can barely give you an exact answer. I am a recently graduated product designer, and I am an international student (as you might have guessed from my terrible English). Such a status means three things. First, design is an industry with no end – it has no standard answers, there is always room for endless improvement, and the time spent may not be equal to the payoff. Five hours of hard thinking during the day may be worse than a three-second burst of inspiration before going to bed. Read more>>