It’s easy to get lost in your career, especially when it’s something you absolutely love doing and are passionate about. While many of us aren’t making money unless we are literally hands-on with a client, the life of a service provider can become exhausting over time, leading to burnout. When you are lucky enough to do what you love for a living, a healthy work- life balance is key to having a long lasting and fruitful career as a service provider.
What makes being a service provider different from working a typical J-O-B?
Fluctuating work hours
When people are having a service done, they’re usually planning it around their busy schedules. Between work and home duties, this can be tricky for some clients. Having weekend availability is a great option for those individuals who work a 9-5 Monday-Friday schedule.
Doing your best to accommodate to a wide range of people’s schedules
Clients appreciate looking and feeling their best year round, but there are times of the year that are especially important for them to feel put together. Because of this, holidays seem to be busier seasons for service providers. Around Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentines day, and the spring and summer holidays, clients will value having you available for their maintenance appointments between travel and events.
Blurred boundaries
Boundaries can be hard to maintain in a field that requires close proximity between you and your clients. This is a different vibe from going to work in an office and having very surface level relationships with your coworkers. When you spend hours inside someone’s bubble, it can be easy to become their friend in no time. It’s important to maintain professionalism in these client relationships, but that does not mean you have to be cold towards them. Matching their energy is key and remember that your clients view you professionally, even when they;’re telling you about their personal lives. Sharing your life is great, but try to keep it light hearted and if you develop a solid friendship with them, consider sharing your childhood traumas for a happy hour after you leave your place of work rather than in your studio or salon.
Variable Income
Another thing that sets you apart from working a “normal” job as a service provider is, well, you can make as much money as you are willing to put forth effort for. Instead of hourly pay or a salary, service providers are usually earning their money based on commission. This commission should continue to grow as you develop your skills and get years of experience under your belt. You will experience busy and slow seasons, and eventually you will grasp your understanding of how to budget for your variable income rather than making the same exact amount every two weeks like if you worked for a corporation. This has downsides, and benefits, but if you love what you’re doing and you’re good at it, the good heavily outweighs the bad.
Strategies to Creating a better work life Balance
Set Clear Boundaries
As we discussed earlier, boundaries can be a difficult but essential part of being a great service provider. Pay attention to your energy levels, your work life balance, and how you are feeling each day and be sure to meet your needs through self care and rest when you’re not working. Clients often think about their services when they’re done working, so it’s common to hear from them outside of your normal working hours. Know when to quit for the day and don’t feel pressure to get back to them right away when they text you at 11:00 on a weeknight. Your off time is essential for your well being! Make yourself available when you can, and when you have the coins. Engaging in conversation when you’re overtired is simply building resentment rather than helping anyone.
Carry these boundaries with you into work, and disallow behaviors from clients such as being no call no shows, canceling or changing appointments last minute frequently, or consistently running late. Sometimes you have to train people how to respect your time and treat you the way you wish to be treated. This can be accomplished using kind but firm communication and holding strong to your policies. They are in place for a reason.
Time Management + Delegating tasks
If there are tasks that you have to do to keep your business running, but they absolutely drain you- outsource them! Not everyone has a knack for social media, inventory, or deep cleaning their workplace. If you have the budget for it, give the task to someone else who is capable. Your investment of time and money to train and compensate someone to do it for you will pay for itself when you have more free space to do the things in your business that light you on fire, which is hopefully the service itself.
Time management is important to maintaining a healthy work life balance as well. Set aside time in your days to respond to emails, catch up on orders, check your DMs, and answer texts. When you designate time for these each day or a few days a week, they will be easier kept up on rather than piling up, leading you to want to procrastinate further.
Self Care
Remember that vacations exist to mitigate burnout! Time off is important to reset your brain and find gratitude in having a job that you love to do. I promise that you’ll come back to it with fresh eyes, feeling refreshed and ready to work hard. Time off includes your evening time and weekends- be sure to fill those with activities that are recharging, whether that’s being horizontal watching movies, making time to hit the gym and the farmers market, or time with friends and family. Invest time into your self care and develop rituals that you can work into your day to day life that will help keep you balanced and happy so you have more to give behind the chair.
Set (Realistic) Goals
Setting goals in your business is just as important as setting goals in your personal life. When we reach a goal that we set for ourselves, it fuels us with a sense of accomplishment and motivates us to keep the momentum going. If you are working toward a huge goal, break that baby down into smaller, easier attainable pieces as to not overwhelm yourself and lose faith. Your goals can all be reached, just remember to take it one hour, one day, one quarter at a time.
Let Technology Help You
With all of the advancements in technology, there have to be some that can help you in your business, right? Look for apps and services that can help you delegate as we talked about before. Batch working is helpful with this. Set aside one afternoon or at least a few hours a week to create some content, and then lean into technology to help you schedule and post these creations to keep your social media active. Utilize your phone to remind you of things throughout the day, and even help you limit your screen time. From meal prepping to clipping coupons, to posting on social media and marketing- technology is your friend in business and in your personal life.
Communicate Clearly
A habit that will help you in the long run is to speak your mind, even if it’s a difficult conversation, kindly but firmly. When a client encroaches on a boundary, let them know why your policies are in place and explain to them that it’s to protect your time. People appreciate concise and kind communication, and it goes far in maintaining healthy client relationships as well as your happiness.
In conclusion, being a service provider is an amazing way to earn your living. If you enjoy helping people, adding happiness and confidence to their lives, and being in a fun atmosphere that feels aligned with you as a person, there is no better place to be. Surrounding yourself with other positive and happy people makes a huge difference in the quality of life you will get to experience. The key to longevity in this career path is finding the harmonious balance between taking care of yourself, so you can take care of others. Remember not to lose sight of your purpose, act with integrity, and have good intentions- and the rest will come to you.
We hope you enjoyed this blog written by Lanna of Bold Beauty Company. See you next time!