I don’t know if I’ve ever met a business owner whose goal wasn’t to work less and live more. But when you’re in the thick of it with your business, it can feel impossible to create that kind of balance. Luckily, we all have the tools to automate, delegate, and streamline our businesses to free up more time and energy for ourselves. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, overworked, or burnt out, create these four business systems to help you work less and live more for a better work/life balance.

Why the Work Life Balance Is So Important

Have you seen that TikTok going around, the one where the lady says she didn’t want to work a 9-5 so she started her own business and now works 24/7? This mindset is common among entrepreneurs. And thanks to social media, the ‘hustle all the time’ lifestyle is pretty much standard for small business owners.

Unfortunately, when you put your everything into your business, you end up burnt out and resenting your business. Most business owners–myself included–start their businesses to create freedom in their lives, be that in their finances, time, or where they live and work. When you pour all your energy into the business, you don’t allow yourself to truly enjoy the fruits of your labor.

A solid work/life balance also benefits your business as a whole. The better you take care of yourself, the better you can show up for your business. If you really want to build a sustainable, successful business, you have to create a work/life balance that involves plenty of rest and time to pursue your passions outside of work.

Streamline These 4 Systems to Work Less and Live More

Let’s get into the nitty gritty, shall we? Here are the four systems I recommend streamlining to free up your time and reclaim your work life balance.

1. Payment Processing

Money is one of the biggest stressors in our adult lives, and that goes double for entrepreneurs. One of the best ways to save yourself time and stress is to take payment processing off your to-do list entirely.

My favorite way to automate payments is with a CRM, or Client Relationship Manager. These programs are designed to handle your contracts, invoices, and recurring payments all in one place. With a CRM, you’ll get to clock off at the end of the day without worrying about chasing down late payments or setting up next month’s recurring invoices.

To streamline your payment processing system, invest in a CRM like Honeybook or Dubsado. Along with processing payments, your CRM can send automated emails, onboard new clients, and so much more. (More on that later!) Set up your recurring invoices, and then let it run in the background while you focus on more pressing things–like the one-on-one client work and taking time for yourself.

2. Social Media Marketing

As a business owner, it’s so easy to justify hours spent scrolling Instagram and TIkTok as “research.” But let’s be honest, very little of the time we spend on social media is necessary to your business’s success.

To streamline your social media marketing system, try…

• Batching content by writing, designing, and scheduling a few weeks worth of posts at a time. Personally, I like to work as far as a month ahead!

• Setting yourself “office hours” during which you’ll check social media and post on your stories. (Check your Instagram analytics to see when your audience is most active.)

• Focusing on the one or two platforms that perform the best for your business. No sense spreading yourself thin over tons of platforms if they’re not worth the energy.

• Repurposing content like blog posts, podcast episodes, and emails into social posts. Your content will feel cohesive, and you’ll save tons of time and energy.

• “Clocking out” of social media at the same time every day. I recommend all my self care coaching clients avoid their devices during the last hour of the night, but the more time you spend away from social media the better.

Having a social media marketing system benefits both your business and your personal life. You get to devote real, concentrated energy into the platforms that work, and you also get to create better boundaries between your real life and your online presence.

For more on creating balance with your devices and stepping away from social media, check out my phone detox guide!

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3. Scheduling & Calendar Management

Ever feel like there’s not enough time in the day to do everything on your to-do list? You’re not alone. But the trick isn’t finding more time in your day, it’s making more time by prioritizing the things you care most about.

When it comes to streamlining your scheduling system, I recommend starting with your meeting scheduling system. If you use a CRM, your clients can use a link to book Zoom calls with you. If you don’t use a CRM, use an app like Calendly to create your own link.

Once you’ve got your meetings automated, it’s time to tackle your personal calendar! I’ve been using the app Reclaim.ai to block off time for my daily self care routines. In the app, you can create “habits” that you want to time block for each day, and the program will automatically find time in your calendar to schedule them in. This saves me tons of time during my weekly planning sessions and makes it nearly impossible for me to skip out on self care.

The combination of these two tools–a meeting scheduler and a habit scheduler–can almost entirely automate your calendar management and help you find time to devote to what matters most to you.

4. Onboarding & Offboarding

If you’re a coach or service provider, chances are you spend a lot of time and energy onboarding and offboarding clients. To simplify the onboarding and offboarding process, try…

• Standardizing your process across all clients. Even if you offer custom packages, some steps of the onboarding and offboarding processes (like sending certain files and questionnaires) can be pretty much the same across the board. Find those commonalities, and create templates and automations for them.

• Creating templates for onboarding emails, questionnaires, and documents. That way, you won’t have to start from scratch with every new client.

• Automating it through your CRM. Programs like Honeybook and Dubsado allow you to write emails for your onboarding process to automatically send when you get a new inquiry or signed contract.

The more quickly and easily you can onboard a new client, the sooner you can start working with them and aiding in their transformation. That’s where the great work happens!

Want to streamline your systems and create a business that lets you work less and live more?

A business built on strong systems can add freedom to your life, both in your bank account and in your calendar. For more ways to reclaim your time and stop letting your business run you, check out my Time-Freedom Blueprint or check out my FREE class, 3 Steps To Avoid Burnout And Create More Intentionality In Your Life & Business!