Work Life Balance: Maintaining Your Sanity in the Beauty Biz 

[00:00:00] Darine: This is really hard for people who are have the tendency to be people pleasers, and I'm one of those people. I love to say yes, I just want to please everybody. But at the end of the day, if you keep doing that, you're going to feel drained. 

[00:00:15] Darine: Welcome to this week's episode of Beauty Babble. Today we're talking about work life balance, which is managing your time between clients and personal life. And Suzanne and I were joking ahead of time and called it maintaining your sanity.  

[00:00:31] Suzanne: Because it's important. So important. This is a big one that I find is It's more common than, I think people think they're the only ones going through it. 

[00:00:42] Suzanne: And I have to tell you, from this side of things, listening to everyone, you're all in it. I am not in the same degree anymore because I have adult children but I was there at one point. I remember clearly, even though I want to forget sometimes, but I can't, but yeah. So what are some tips? I mean, you're [00:01:00] working in this career because you obviously love it, but sometimes you don't love it. 

[00:01:06] Suzanne: Because of, you know, the demands that happen on that direct messaging, or whatever else happens. So how do you do this? What are some things well we have a few things, of course we thought about this and planned it, you guys. I  

[00:01:20] Darine: think, like, it's, like you said, I think it's I'm going to play devil's advocate too of course when you have kids you have that other thing to juggle but not having kids you still need to draw the line right because I think there's an expectation of immediate response because you can text somebody. 

[00:01:39] Darine: And I'm guilty of this too. If I email you, I don't expect an immediate response. If I text you, I'd like an immediate, immediate er response, more immediate. A little  

[00:01:50] Suzanne: quicker. Immediate er.  

[00:01:52] Darine: Immediate er, not a word. But, you can set those expectations too, right? Like, you know, Let people know when [00:02:00] they should or shouldn't be texting you. 

[00:02:02] Suzanne: I still have people laugh because I sit with a schedule. I still try to make sure that I turn off my work world and my, and my brain because when you're passionate about something, when do you turn that off? Cause you're always, Oh, look at that, exploring this. And I tell you, you know, tick tock is the worst for me because I see something and I'm watching it. 

[00:02:23] Suzanne: I'm like, Oh, what is that? Just, and I'm now I'm Googling it and I want to know more. And so I completely understand And I'm glad you brought it up. This is not just about people with children or in relationships, or you could be a solo person in a solo career, but it's still a matter of setting those boundaries for yourself, right? 

[00:02:42] Suzanne: And having that. So one thing is setting clear boundaries and you have to set it up yourself. So you have to define your work hours. First off, let's figure out what are your specific hours. And the reason I've. Always especially when I was consulting and people starting new businesses and even [00:03:00] today I tell people, I suggest, I don't tell, I suggest that you think about your hours and you stick to the hours because if you are thinking, well I can't say no, I just got to open my books to everything, you are now setting up that expectation. 

[00:03:16] Suzanne: And now how do you go and change that? You, I'm telling you, it's going to be very difficult. You will lose some clients, not all clients, but you will lose some clients. They won't understand because now you're, you're changing. When you set up the expectations of that work life side of things, they'll follow along. 

[00:03:33] Suzanne: Because they've started that way. You are preparing them for habits like, you know if you know that you have, you just brought a dog into your world you're setting up expectations, are you not? You're going to set up the morning. If you have kids, you're setting up the morning. You yourself, when you get up, alarm goes off, probably and you have expectations of yourself in the morning of what you do with your routine. 

[00:03:55] Suzanne: So try to bring that into your business world by [00:04:00] defining. Have your work hours, and if you want to expand them here and there, so you know what, you know, I don't start by at 10 till 10, but I can actually get in by 930 on that day. Would you like to come a little earlier? But don't give it to them all the time. 

[00:04:13] Suzanne: Oh, yeah. When do you want to come in? You just show up for it. That's not defining your hours. And I think it's really important.  

[00:04:20] Darine: This is really hard for people who are have the tendency to be people pleasers, and I'm one of those people. I love to say yes, I just want to please everybody. But at the end of the day, if you keep doing that, you're going to feel drained. 

[00:04:36] Darine: And then you're not going to be able to enjoy the career that you have set out to enjoy. So even if you've already started and you you've been on this path of really being flexible and giving your clients. the times that they want, you can slowly implement a new way and you can just be really honest. 

[00:04:57] Darine: Just say, you know, I'm just taking care of a little bit, [00:05:00] trying to get more balance and I have new hours. Of course, I'm going to remain flexible to some extent, but I would also make notes of the clients who are constantly asking me to push my time because if it becomes too much of a habit, it might be something that needs to be addressed with that specific client. 

[00:05:19] Suzanne: The other thing, too, on that side, because you're communicating those boundaries now, you need to do that with your family and friends. Right? Like, I, and I know that's so hard. And I only laugh because the face you made and that was like the inside face I made. I know. You can use this if you need to. 

[00:05:42] Suzanne: That is the hardest thing for people, but I'm going to be honest with you guys. You need to hear this. I've heard the other side of it and people, the technician involved, are so upset with their family or their friends because they're texting me, they expect me to answer them at 10 o'clock [00:06:00] at night. It's like, well, that's business. 

[00:06:02] Suzanne: Right. That's the business side, but you would talk to them over coffee or, you know, over text messages because something funny happened or whatever, but they don't understand the differences between the two. So sometimes what you can do what I've done, it's like, Oh, you know what, I'll have to look at that in the morning. 

[00:06:19] Suzanne: If you don't mind, I'll get back to you on that tomorrow.  

[00:06:22] Darine: So you'll have to see Maybe if they're texting about a facial or some kind of Service, or questions about  

[00:06:29] Suzanne: Yeah, so how do you nicely help them understand that your brain is off work right now? And I  

[00:06:36] Darine: think too, the flip side of that is when they ask you to do a service after you're done work. 

[00:06:43] Darine: You know, trying to, you squeeze in after work or whatever, and that is really tough because you don't want to get off of work, even if you work for yourself out of your own home to do more work, it's [00:07:00] still work.  

[00:07:01] Suzanne: Well, the other side is that people will, well, you're home anyways.  

[00:07:05] Darine: Yeah.  

[00:07:06] Suzanne: And I hear that person. 

[00:07:08] Suzanne: Saying, how can they do that? That's so disrespectful to me, set up those boundaries, make it clear, and they won't, some will still, but they'll respect the no, like if you actually say, Oh, you know what? I can't tonight. But is there a different time that works for you? Here's my next few openings and offer them when you're open, you don't actually say no. 

[00:07:29] Suzanne: You don't have to say no, you just offer them something different, right? The other thing is okay, so one is set clear boundaries. Two, prioritize self care. You know the old saying, it's not old, it's actually resurfacing a lot now. You gotta fill your own cup. That's huge. That's an old saying. I used to say all the time and it's come back and it's so true. 

[00:07:50] Suzanne: People, when are you scheduling a little bit of you time, like me time? It could be five minutes. It could be an hour. It could be whatever it may be. But [00:08:00] what does that mean? And I think Today, we've learned a lot more about self care to help with that mindfulness of ourselves as well and practice mindfulness. 

[00:08:10] Suzanne: It's even more essential now, I think. That's what I'm hearing out there. So, how can you block a little time out for yourself? I think you've done this, Doreen, right? You finally, finally said, oh, listen, I, you know these are certain times that I'm just saying no, right? And I was like, wow, you're saying no. 

[00:08:28] Suzanne: Good  

[00:08:28] Darine: for you. I've been saying no. I'm so proud of myself. And I think that it like self care. I have two young kids. I run my own business. You know, you have to be intentional with making that time and you have to, it looks differently for everybody else. I would just like, Make a list. I actually have a friend who she's a yoga teacher and she posted about your non negotiable list and I think everybody needs to make a list of non negotiables meaning like [00:09:00] here are the things that I will not back off on, you know, whether it's like a cup of tea at the end of the day, being in bed by a certain time, whatever is your list, like having that list for yourself because then you can have that to Hold on to when you're being, you know, pushed or needed in other ways. 

[00:09:21] Darine: And you're  

[00:09:22] Suzanne: like,  

[00:09:22] Darine: no, no,  

[00:09:22] Suzanne: here's my non negotiable. And now too, I mean, there's so many apps for mindfulness. And some people like, I remember having a friend that I, I talked to her about like, Well, meditation, but I knew like with her, we call it monkey brain, right? Just doesn't turn off. She doesn't know how to stop. 

[00:09:40] Suzanne: And I said, it doesn't mean you have to turn it off, but could you just sit for one minute and listen to it? Just listen. That's all you need to do. She, now this is actually through COVID when I introduced it, cause it was a hard time, right? And she actually meditates now. on her own. It's taken years, but she's doing it. 

[00:09:57] Suzanne: And it's different for everyone. I'm [00:10:00] not saying that's what you you need to do. But if you start off with give me one minute like I'm trying to have it. I'm all about doing two and one. It's a little self care. So put the red mask on my face, put my legs up the wall and listen to something. And try to say, I got it. 

[00:10:16] Suzanne: I can make it through the timer on the mask. That's what I, how long I'm going to do this for. And I'm not watching TV. I'm not doing that. And, and if you can schedule it in great I have a little more flexibility in my life these days for evenings and weekends kind of, right. So I can practice this a little more often, but before I literally scheduled in like my coffee and said, I'm going for coffee at this time. 

[00:10:41] Suzanne: And I made myself sit in a coffee place. Sip my coffee. Yeah. You have to find what works for you. Right. And that's how I fit it in. And it was small, but it was something, you know, it's, I spoiled myself to getting my hair done at this really [00:11:00] expensive place. And I was like, oh my God, this is so much money. 

[00:11:03] Suzanne: But what she did for me was. You walked in, essential oils were going, a head massage, a cup of tea. She just, she gave me that and I had to sit still because I had to get my hair done. But the other side, she brought me some self care without realizing, you know what I mean? But I looked for those ways, so I get busy. 

[00:11:26] Suzanne: And can you do two at one? It can, you know, it's always nice to do get a massage or something, but finding what those are, they can be so small, so small. You know, it doesn't have to be big. It'd be better if it's big, but mindfulness. So prioritize self care. The other one, which I know some people have a hard time is delegate when possible. I love telling people what to do. Is  

[00:11:51] Darine: that what you mean? 

[00:11:56] Suzanne: Yes, well, some call it shared responsibilities, Doreen.[00:12:00]  

[00:12:02] Suzanne: Oh, that's good. No, yeah, no, for sure. Like, especially when you're running your own business, as you mentioned, it's learning to delegate. So if you have staff that can help you with certain things, it's valuable. And maybe they, maybe that's something to love, love to do, which will take it off of you. If you're at home and you have kids and you got delegate a little bit, Hey, mommy needs help with this today. 

[00:12:24] Suzanne: And you know, it makes so much better. Cause then after we have time to sit and read the book or whatever, or go for a walk or go to the playground, whatever you're thinking, right. But I think it's but on the business side, I will tell you. The best thing that I ever did was invest in hiring people to do things for me, like bookkeeping. 

[00:12:43] Suzanne: I hate bookkeeping, and I'm still bookkeeping for my Well, I shouldn't say that. I am for my husband to a degree, and I've now delegated someone else to help. 

[00:12:53] Suzanne: So, it's always there, but I did it for years. But administrative tasks. Is there someone you can talk to [00:13:00] and, You can hire  

[00:13:01] Darine: virtual assistants, like virtual administrative assistants that Just on an as needed basis, or it doesn't have to be full time, just as you would need it to unload some of those things that you don't want to do. 

[00:13:13] Suzanne: The other one was investing in my online scheduler, like, booking. Like I think Square has it like there's a quite a few out there that are reasonably priced So you're not having to do all these things and you can set it up as a basic website even it's so simple It really is something to do if not get someone to do it for you And you put your online booking on there the hard part is setting it up after that It's a dream and then you just look at your schedule and see who you got and you don't have to be doing it yourself Because that can be time consuming Texting I have an opening of this day this day at this time at this time But but you know, it's like send them to that site if that's It's going to help you and it might be worth that small investment of your time, right? 

[00:13:52] Suzanne: Like I said, if you have staff and you know, shared responsibility is really good You can get look at the forte of each person. Each [00:14:00] person has some really great qualities about themselves If someone is not attentive to detail, maybe you don't want them counting your inventory Right. 

[00:14:09] Suzanne: Like some people want to help with that, but it's like, Oh, do you want to arrange the display instead? You know, so, cause those, you got to look at the, what someone can do that would be really good. That's something that they do very well. So if you recognize it, that's something you can have them focus on and help you. 

[00:14:27] Darine: And on that note, I would also advise, this is the type A in me. If you are getting somebody to do like delegating. Write down the steps so that the next time you need to delegate, you're not re explaining everything. So it becomes a process that you have in place. So you're not, because I know a lot of owners who are like, well, it'd be quicker if I just did it. 

[00:14:50] Darine: Yes, but down the road, it would just actually save you time if you had a proper layout of how to delegate.  

[00:14:58] Suzanne: And saying that, [00:15:00] not verbally telling them. You have to do both. You have to verbally tell them and write it, write it down, and I actually walk them through it. That's what I used to do, because you think you've said everything, you haven't, and then you're like, but I've told them this. 

[00:15:15] Suzanne: I keep having to tell them. That's the problem. If you have to keep repeating yourself, first look at you and how you said it.  

[00:15:23] Darine: And people learn differently, right? And that's what I'm trying to say. But if I have something to reference, if I'm, you know, I don't remember, as I'm doing it, it would be a lot better. 

[00:15:33] Suzanne: Yeah. Absolutely. Another, number four is plan your schedule wisely. So, effective time management is key to maintaining a work life balance. Planning your schedule carefully can help you maximize your productivity and avoid unnecessary overhead. Burnout, which so many people have been hitting. I heard we're in October right now recording this and the last few weeks people are just like, Oh my God, where did [00:16:00] everybody come from? 

[00:16:00] Suzanne: Which is great, but it's so busy. And they're, and they're feeling burnt out all of a sudden, because now it's like, Oh my God, I got to make up for lost time. Because it was quiet, let's say, right? So, you know, you still want that same idea where you want to block out, you know, similar tasks together. So, maybe you know that I don't know, how do I say this? 

[00:16:19] Suzanne: Like, you're scheduling your clients back to back, right? So, you know your mornings are back to back. So, what does your afternoon look like? Do you need to block out two hours for your administration? And you got to stick to it. If you've scheduled that in, and that's what I used to do, I scheduled in what I was doing, if I was planning my marketing, if I was working on my bookkeeping, if I was having a meeting with a staff member, if I was following up with clients, I booked it in my day. 

[00:16:47] Suzanne: And, or in my week or in my month or whatever it may be, but I did book it in and I think use, try to task those things together. So administrative tasks are, are your follow ups. Do you, do you have an automated [00:17:00] system? Are you going to look into doing it? If not, what are you doing for follow ups? That example, right? 

[00:17:04] Suzanne: Administration can, can be a, quite a few lists of things to do, but that's kind of how I would, I would look at it and use a calendar. Don't just write down a little sticky note on your computer, remember to do, you won't do.  

[00:17:18] Darine: There's, there's lots of really cool stuff that you can use on what you would call it. 

[00:17:22] Darine: But I use one called Notion. And it's just like, you put all your to do's in there, you can do out your schedule. So there's audit, like tools that you can do to help you manage your time as well,  

[00:17:33] Suzanne: cool. Number five, you brought it up. Learning to say no. Evaluate requests very carefully. And politely decline. And I know, like, I know people in my life over the years who were shocked when I politely decline and they're like what you said, no, I said, Oh, I did, you know, it's like, and it was sometimes to family, sometimes [00:18:00] to friends, sometimes to clients. 

[00:18:03] Suzanne: It's like, I had to, you know, I try to fit in my schedule deep down. I was like, not wanting to go like home parties are just not my jam. And I'd get invited to this knife, knives Tupperware back then, like, you know, like all these parties, home care, Oh, you love skincare. Come to this. I won't say the name, but I'm like I just want to say no. 

[00:18:29] Suzanne: Why would I go to a home party for skincare that you're selling and you have no background anyways, but that's me being brutally honest right here. But I had to politely decline and say, just, I just can't fit it in right now. I'm sorry. I have to say no. And. You know, maybe next time.  

[00:18:51] Suzanne: And you know it's like you're, if you're overextending yourself you're gonna, it's gonna lead to burnout. And it doesn't matter personal life on a work life. It doesn't matter. [00:19:00] It will. It adds up. And I remember having clients like really quite young in my 20s. I learned a lot from them into my 30s women over 50 just change. 

[00:19:12] Suzanne: And you hear no more often? No, I'm not doing that. And they just, I think it's also become at a time like forties, fifties become empty nesters if they have kids, different point in their life with their careers. Like, you know, financially, probably a little bit different, I would think. But I learned that, so I was like, okay, why did you wait so long for it? 

[00:19:35] Suzanne: So I, you know, if you listen to your clients, you might learn some things too for yourself to prevent. future kind of obstacles, right? Number six, stay connected with loved ones. So you're saying no to some things, but it's still, you know, we still need to fulfill that personal life. I mean, there's people around you. 

[00:19:52] Suzanne: When I say loved ones, that's who do you love? It doesn't necessarily just mean your mom, your dad, grandma, grandpa, it could be your best friend. It could be [00:20:00] anybody, a niece, a nephew, a cousin, like whatever, whoever, Is that person, people in your life, is staying connected? So, plan regular catch ups. And I think that's important because we forget, we think we're connected through social media and text. 

[00:20:14] Suzanne: But you're really not. Like, I can't believe how disconnected I personally have gotten with even friends over the years because we have this easy, quick, Hey, like that, or how you doing? And it's like, Oh my God, it's, I haven't, I mean, some of my friends aren't in town, but, and they'd live far, quite far. It's like, God, we haven't actually talked on the phone. 

[00:20:37] Suzanne: Like when's the last time we talked? Not, not like, Typing,  

[00:20:41] Darine: you know, and sometimes because you see what's happening in somebody's life, you don't realize you're actually haven't connected in a while because like, I'm all caught up. I'm good. That's  

[00:20:50] Suzanne: what I'm  

[00:20:51] Darine: saying.  

[00:20:51] Suzanne: It's like, Oh, I see. We're on a trip. Yeah. 

[00:20:53] Suzanne: Okay. Yeah. We forget like day to day. Like I was talking to a friend the other day, she's like, Oh my God, I didn't know that about you. And I'm [00:21:00] like, Oh, my God. When is the last time we actually spoke, like talked on the phone? And it's like, so we just made a point of now, okay, we need to do better for ourselves. 

[00:21:09] Suzanne: Right. With each other. I think the other thing too, is it allows you when you're staying connected, you become more present as well. And, You know, put the phone away. Like you get together, you're sitting down and I watched this video on, on this and they said, you know, people sit down meeting a friend for coffee or your loved one, whoever it may be, and you pull your phone out, put it right out in front, that that's showing you're not a priority now, now in today's world, I kind of look at what so many people are business owners and I've never looked at it that way. 

[00:21:46] Suzanne: I was never offended by it. I'm not either. No, I'm not either. But they've said if you really want to be present, could you not put your phone away for an hour? And it challenged me to think it's like, yeah, I never, I didn't [00:22:00] look at it that way. Cause now you're disconnecting from that, which is good because it gives you a little time for yourself. 

[00:22:06] Suzanne: So I, I've looked at it differently for myself anyways, but allow me to be present in the conversation I'm having with someone.  

[00:22:14] Darine: That's actually true. I actually had I recently volunteered at my daughter's school, and we were stuffing envelopes, and I was wearing my watch, and I had forgotten that I turned off notifications, so I thought, if anything comes through, it'll beep on my watch, and then, so I didn't check my phone, and I was there for like, three hours, and then when I got up to leave, I'm like, I had You know, a call from my cousin, a text message, and it was like, none of it was actually urgent, that I couldn't have gotten to, and I did get to it when I was done, but I was like, had it beeped at the time, I would have been pulled away, I would have been, you know, had to answer,  

[00:22:53] Suzanne: But yeah, it's being present and I think that's that's part of the self care in the end too, right? Like it I think it kind of works [00:23:00] both ways is how how I kind of saw it myself But I challenge you to be there  

[00:23:05] Darine: and not like I'm thinking about something else responding to somebody's message or whatever. 

[00:23:11] Darine: Yeah,  

[00:23:11] Suzanne: exactly you know and yeah, I think it's part of it and And lastly, number seven is reflect and adjust. Don't feel like you're married to it, right? You can achieve work life balance on an ongoing basis. Like, you know, check and reflect regularly. You know, your current adjustments. I mean, life happens. 

[00:23:30] Suzanne: We all know that. It can adjust very fast and we have to go with it sometimes because of current situations, right? But I think  

[00:23:37] Darine: I think it's also industry related because, like you said earlier, sometimes you're super busy. And then sometimes you're not so maybe you need to adjust your to accommodate and I know when I worked I wanted to take advantage of my busy time so that on the off time I wasn't as stressed. 

[00:23:55] Darine: So how do you adjust by by that too?  

[00:23:58] Suzanne: Yeah, very good. [00:24:00] Yeah, that's so true. I think if it ever comes to the point where you're feeling overwhelmed, this is a really good time to To reflect and adjust.  

[00:24:09]  

[00:24:09] Suzanne: I think that's a good time to say, Okay, I need to find half an hour to look at my life. Or 15 minutes if that's all you've got. 

[00:24:18] Suzanne: But something, Sorry, excuse me, so you can make those necessary changes. And they can be small little tweaks, right? You know, like I said, you don't have to have this set in stone. So for my, you know, the people that don't have gray area out there, the black and white seeing things, just know it doesn't have to be that way, right? 

[00:24:37] Suzanne: You can, you can make those adjustments, be okay to adapt and change. It's really important. Assess your balance and adapt and change because you need to be flexible, right, because life happens. It'll continually happen. So, you know, work life balance strategies are, these are just part of a list of that we've come up with for you.[00:25:00]  

[00:25:00] Suzanne: But, you know, circumstances can change. And I think, I think the big things is when you're feeling overwhelmed or someone brings it up to you, you know, like I, I used to ask my kids, check me in. If I, if you find I'm not being like I'm being really short with you and not, I'm not saying being so nice all the time, not like that, but even, even that can sometimes help, right? 

[00:25:26] Suzanne: And if you are checking with that good friend of yours, sometimes they're the ones. To tell you, you know, which is to, or your partner, if that's the case, it's like, you know, well,  

[00:25:36] Darine: I don't  

[00:25:36] Suzanne: know  

[00:25:36] Darine: if you're  

[00:25:37] Suzanne: coming from your partner, but if you set it up in a nice way, yeah,  

[00:25:41] Darine: I think though, if you are, if you do have some of these things in place, they in themselves can help you check in on yourself too, right? Because sometimes we don't notice ourselves until we've gotten to that point where it's like really big. So if you don't have that, somebody to [00:26:00] help you check, maybe these times that your, your self care time, your What did we say? 

[00:26:06] Darine: Just the times that you've set for yourself, those can become, maybe you catch yourself in that moment feeling something.  

[00:26:14] Suzanne: I don't know about you, but a lot of times when I'm driving is when I think of things.  

[00:26:17] Suzanne: And I think that's the time when you can. Look and say, oh, and I've done it where this is something I had to teach myself to do. 

[00:26:24] Suzanne: I'm out driving, I'm headed to where I've gotta get to, and all of a sudden I'm like thinking this, this, and this. And of course you want, you don't want distracted driving. So I go, okay, I'm gonna pull over at the next spot and I'm gonna quickly write that down or calendar, whatever, reminder something. It takes literally a minute of your time and then you can move on and and carry on. 

[00:26:44] Suzanne: Right. But you know, I think it's a continuous journey. This, and we have to find a way to stay. On top of ourselves and a positive note it'll be a lot healthier for us. Especially, you know, they're, they're noticing, you [00:27:00] know, more and more women specifically are, you know, hormone imbalances and challenges and cortisol levels and all these things in life that are affecting us and these, this all is part of it. 

[00:27:11] Suzanne: So you do need to check that, check in and, and make sure you take care of this. So finding that balance in your career and personal life as a beauty professional is just going to. You know, I think it needs to be intentional. You have to be disciplined and intentional on this for yourself to be really successful in it, if you wish. 

[00:27:36] Darine: Absolutely. I'd love to hear from our listeners who have some tips on how they managed to have a good work life balance and what's worked for them. Cause then we can share that on another episode.  

[00:27:48] Suzanne: Yeah. Great idea. I'd love to hear it.  

[00:27:51] Darine: Amazing. Well, I think that's it for this week. Thank you.