Boundary Setting for Creative Entrepreneurs
“Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by choosing what you will and won’t accept.”
I used to think I could do everything, all the time, as it came to me. I said yes to every creative opportunity that came my way. I wanted to do it all, and I wanted to do it now. I’m here to tell you, you can do it all, but you don’t have to do it all right this minute.
Boundaries are essential in all parts of our lives. Setting boundaries for and expectations with your clients or customers upfront is key to avoid working yourself into the ground. How much work you can take on, and what your turnaround time is can be a huge source of stress for creatives. In the beginning, as a creative entrepreneur starting a graphic design company, I took on every little project I could in an attempt to make work, create relationships, and to try and validate the existence of my creative business. I undercharged and over delivered. I stayed up late to meet insane deadlines, because I didn’t have any boundaries. I worked myself ragged.
I’m not saying I shouldn’t have worked so hard those first years. I’m saying not having a plan and not communicating expectations well made things harder than it needed to be.
It wasn’t until I acknowledged the value my skills and experience brings to my clients, that I felt like I could do this. I also didn’t do it alone. I had the privilege of being part of a local women’s entrepreneur group, and they really deeply helped me see that I was selling myself short. Now that I’ve been at this for a while, and have an established portfolio, clients, and practices, I can set boundaries. I now price my services more appropriately, based on my experience and the market. I don’t say yes to every single project. I ask clients what their target dates are, but give myself a cushion of time to complete the work, because... life! I have a family, anxiety, and autoimmune diseases I’m maintaining. Sometimes I just need a day off and sometimes it’s a random Tuesday. If you need help setting boundaries you might benefit from creativity coaching.
Things I did before I set boundaries:
Said yes to every opportunity, even if I didn’t feel it was a good fit.
Quote each project individually and not share my prices on my website.
Undercharged for services.
Responded to every email or message as they came in. All day.
Try to remember who messaged me on what platform.
Agreed to whatever timeline the client requested, no matter how crazy.
I worked all the time. Any time I wasn’t engaged in a specific family activity, I would get on my phone or go back to my laptop and work more.
Things I do now:
Have the courage to say no to things that aren’t a good fit for me.
Pricing clearly and unapologetically posted on website.
Charging an hourly rate that is appropriate to my years of experience, skills, and level of quality of work. Also, updating pricing at least once a year.
Respond to emails messages when I have time. It’s not a good choice to obsessively reply to emails. People can wait a reasonable amount of time for a reply from a small business owner.
Ask all clients to please email me, or I will email them, if our first point of contact is social media. This way I don’t have to search through four apps to reply to a message.
Ask clients when they would like to have a project completed by, then have a discussion about what is realistic, and when it’s appropriate I add in some buffer days just in case something comes up.
Tell my clients what to expect: When they will hear back with proofs, what’s expected in terms of payments, how they can best contact me, how I will deliver final files. I talk about all of that up front, so they know exactly what to expect, and I know exactly what to do and in what order.
I set office hours and try my very best to stick to them. My family is more important than my business, and they deserve to have a mom/wife/daughter/sister that is present. I deserve a balanced life as well.
Goal setting and prioritizing what I want to spend my time on have been personal boundaries that help me stay focused when I’m in my office hours, to make the most of that time.
Having these boundaries and systems in place allow me to do better quality work for my clients. I’m not being pulled in ten directions at once all day long and it’s a great feeling. Do I still have moments where I stretch myself thin? Of course. I think every entrepreneur has at least a touch of workaholic in them, but I’m doing better and I’m continuing to work my hardest, but try to shut it off when I’m off the clock. Doing our best is all we can do, but we don’t owe every last bit of ourselves to our creative pursuits or our jobs.
What boundaries do you find most important in your life or business? Let me know in the comments or shoot me a message. I would love to hear from you.
In an effort to foster a creatives community I’ve started a Facebook group called Art is a Record Creatives Community, the same name as this blog. I would love for you to join in the fun as we discuss creative living, projects, art, and life.
