How a creative operations agency owner balances work and life

Work-Life Wisdom explores the balancing act of work and life with experts across various fields. Each installment offers a glimpse into how these professionals manage their busy schedules, maintain personal well-being, and achieve harmony between their careers and personal lives. Join us for insightful stories and practical advice that resonate with anyone striving for a more balanced life.

Sara Loretta's journey as an entrepreneur and digital strategist is both inspiring and instructive. As the Founder and Chief Digital Architect of SYSTMS™, she has transformed her passion for effective digital operations into a thriving business that helps small teams scale and succeed. With a career spanning over a decade, including running her own design agency and working in the non-profit sector, Sara has cultivated a deep understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a successful remote team.

Her approach to work-life balance is as innovative as her business strategies. Sara's unique scheduling — reserving calls for Mondays and Fridays, and dedicating other weekdays to focused, deep work — exemplifies her commitment to efficiency and excellence. This, combined with her "micro-ambition" philosophy, showcases how she achieves high productivity without sacrificing personal well-being.

Sara's implementation of strict boundaries, like her daily siesta and dedicated workspaces, underscores the importance she places on mental and physical health in a work-from-home setting. These practices not only enhance her personal life but also set a powerful example for her team and clients.

Moreover, Sara's embrace of technology, particularly in automating client onboarding with tools like Calendly, Notion, and Paperform, has been pivotal in her quest for a better work-life balance. By saving valuable time through automation, she has crafted a work lifestyle that allows her the freedom to enjoy her personal life more fully.

Sara Loretta's story is a testament to the power of intentional living and working. Her journey provides valuable insights for anyone looking to harmonize their professional aspirations with their personal life, proving that with the right mindset and tools, achieving a fulfilling work-life balance is indeed possible.

What does your typical day look like?

I focus more on weekly trends, and then micro-develop my day from there.

For instance, I only take calls on Mondays and Fridays, then Tuesday-Thursday are deep focus days for client work, content development, etc.

Day to day however, I start my day about 10AM and practice micro-ambition, so I'm only focusing on three tasks per day (if I feel motivated obviously I'll take on more), but this allows me to complete each project to the great ability rather than rushing through and doing an ""okay"" job. "

What does work-life balance mean to you?

This is a tough question. In my opinion, being required to work from home makes balance harder without boundaries. Me, I've implemented a few things that help:

• Only work from my home office or the patio (no couch)
• No work until after my 1st cup of coffee so I can enjoy it!
• Daily Siesta -- I take a daily siesta every day from 1:30-3PM to eat, walk the dog, and have no screen time.

How do you set boundaries between work and personal time?

The boundaries I've set (previous question) took a while to really incorporate but to do so, I took a look at my energy patterns, and ""gave myself permission"" to create them.

From there, I check in regularly to tweak, add too or remove the boundaries I've set. To have successful boundaries in a WFH era, you have to be honest and strict with yourself for them to be successful. "

What strategies or habits help you maintain a healthy relationship between work and life?

I would say incorporating my daily siesta has been the biggest game-changer over the past two years. This is a hard and fast rule I have that is my time.

It also helps break up the day, rather than sitting at my desk for 6 or more hours. I'm able to group my work to a morning block and an afternoon block and usually don't need a 2pm coffee jolt to power through.

How do you prioritize self-care, personal growth, and maintaining relationships while managing work responsibilities?

I think when you work for yourself, it's way easier to prioritize self-care and personal growth because you're hyper-aware that no one else will do it for you.

The other key piece is honesty. I'm unapologetic about my boundaries and ""asshole policies"" as I call them -- not only with my team but with my clients too. They are told from the very beginning the expectations I've set, and there's no room to argue or bend them.

Has technology helped you achieve a better work-life balance?

I love the way technology is evolving in web 3.0, and am so grateful to live in a world where automation exist. Recently I shared this on my social feeds, but by automating my client onboarding process using Calendly, Notion & Paperform, I've saved ~87 hours a year on my calendar.

There's less admin work to do, I can take off most Fridays, it's a beautiful thing.

What advice would you give others struggling to find work-life balance?

Audit your processes! I have a free guide for this to help you -- https://systms.club/audit-guide

By auditing your processes (I recommend every 90 days), you can see what tasks are repetitive and could potentially be automated; remove items that aren't necessary to a client's project success; and improve items so they take less time.

From there, you have to create the life you want and start living it. Don't want to work on Fridays? Clear your calendar. Want to be done working at 4pm? Close your laptop.

Can you recommend any resources that have influenced the way you approach work and life?

I have actually stepped away from this kind of content recently because I found I was trying to replicate exactly what the other person was doing rather than focusing on my own knowledge and needs.

However, the only practice I do follow is the 12 Week Year (book) for goal setting.

Is there any other advice that you'd like to share?

Everyone's journey is different, so don't compare your chapter 2 to someone's chapter 8. Be unapologetic about finding and creating your own path as an entrepreneur, and in doing so you'll have so much success.

Related reading

• A practical guide to beating burnout
• Are you suffering from toxic productivity?
• How to create a productive afternoon routine
• The framework for a perfectly balanced to-do list
• Working from home with kids (without losing your sanity)