Women Like You Share Strategies to Maintain Balance
In these short interviews, the following women entrepreneurs were asked to describe their experiences with work life balance.
Amelia Case, Universal Health Institute, is a doctor whose firm offers a unique combination of drug free, non-surgical traditional and alternative therapies designed to relieve pain and revitalize your life.
Lelani Craig, COMMGAP International Translation Services, has a full service language services agency providing document translation, spoken and signed language interpretation, consulting, testing and training, voice over, and localization.
Kelly Moore, Moore Benefits, Inc., owns a health insurance consulting, brokerage and administration firm for companies with 1-200 employees in Southern California. The company's mission is to make coverage affordable, understandable, and work the way it is supposed to work.
All three women are a Make Mine a Million $ Business Program Awardees.
Amelia Case, Universal Health Institute
What are the top 3-4 things you do to maintain balance in your life?
1. Exercise every day except Wednesday. It takes the stress down a few notches. 2. Date night on Saturdays. We have a sitter even if we don't go out. (Sometimes our date is just sitting at home watching a movie, but knowing that the sitter is there gives it an extra relaxed feeling.) 3. Reading almost every night. Reading is so luxurious. If I make sure I read, I feel like I have all the time in the world. 4. Health Care. Energy Therapy, Massage Therapy, nutritional supplements, and getting chiropractic adjustments make me feel like I am pampering myself and taking good care of myself.
What has been the effect, if any, that your commitment to Work Life Balance has had on your business?
My mood and attitude are better when I honor my life with balance. I am not short-tempered and have a much greater "creativity index". However, getting to my exercise or health care appointments is not easy -- sometimes annoying, in fact. Sometimes I feel resentful that I have to figure out how to fit it all in, even if I know it is balancing my life better (it still seems to be another "something" to do). As I make progress on achieving balance, I wonder how to maintain maximum productivity even when I am not working at my business every moment. For example, I would love to know how to hire someone who would be dedicated and interested to the greatest degree possible -- who would help take some of the heat off of me.
Lelani Craig, COMMGAP Int'l Translation Services
What are the top 3-4 things you do to maintain balance in your life?
I maintain a schedule and keep things in order in the morning. That sets the mood for the rest of the day. After getting the kids up for breakfast and spending some together time, they start off to school and I get in a 30-60 minute workout before leaving for work. The rest of my day also follows a certain path. It's all a choice we make. Like a Boy Scout: Be Prepared! And when the unexpected happens, I can maintain consistency and balance.
What has been the effect, if any, that your commitment to Work Life Balance has had on your business?
When I started my business, I promised that as soon as I walked out of the office, work would stay behind. Time at home is mine and my family's so I have employees who cover after hours and on weekends as needed. Delegate, delegate, delegate.
Positive changes include more quality family time. We always eat dinner together; and I have time to help the kids with their homework and activities. At work, where properly training everyone is a priority, the business has continued to grow and expand and fires are put out without my intervention. Of course, I do have to step in every now and then but honestly, I have done that maybe twice in the last year. Personally, I'm in the best shape of my life, my house is clean, and my business is in order, headed in the right direction.
Kelly Moore, Moore Benefits, Inc.
What are the top 3-4 things you do to maintain balance in your life?
1. Work set hours -- 8:30 am to 5:30 pm M-F; 1/2 day Sunday NO MATTER how behind I get at work. I fear burnout by working long hours, and besides, the work fills to consume whatever time I put in. I know that everything will never be done, I will never be caught up, so I just keep plugging away during the hours I set for myself, and focus on my personal life off-hours.
2. Hire people to do things that I don't want to do. A guy comes and washes my car every other Tuesday morning while I get ready for work. A bookkeeper enters all the deposits, bills, balances bank account, etc. A housekeeper cleans my house every other week. My employees do all the data entry, customer service calls, mailings, etc.
3. Splurge on a personal trainer to come in my home and do strength training 2 times per week early in the morning, since I hate going to gyms. This company also provides a nutrition plan, so I just buy and eat what they advise, and I don't have to plan it all out. These things help me to stay physically fit.
4. Spend my evenings with loved ones. Once I come home, I may write in my journal if I have business on my mind, but I do not work at night. I talk to my mom, watch movies with my boyfriend, walk the dog, have wine with neighbors, play guitar with my friend, etc.
What has been the effect, if any, that your commitment to Work Life Balance has had on your business?
The effect on how I handle work-life balance is that I still love my work after having the business for 6 years; and the negative is that I am always running at full speed during "green time" to keep up. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed at work. The challenge for me is to be able to maintain the sanity of reasonable work hours I have now, even while growing a larger than average business. I'll need to set realistic expectations and learn how to be more productive during work hours, so that as my business continues to grow, I can maintain the balance.
