Work-Life Balance Series: Work-Life Balance is a Good Habit with Alyssa Lang

The Workflow Queen Alyssa Lang joins co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan to discuss the role of work-life balance, why it’s a good habit, and the way it has shaped her company and team members.

[2:21] Alyssa shares where her passion for great white sharks comes from, and discusses how she hasn’t been able to go shark cage diving, yet.

[3:50] Alyssa started her bookkeeping and taxes firm six years ago, before ending it in February of 2020. She started Workflow Queen on Valentine’s Day of the same year when she found out that many other bookkeepers and accountants also struggled with trying to create systems and processes, hiring people, and getting support, just like Alyssa did. In January of 2022, she partnered with her Workflow Queen operations manager to start a new bookkeeping firm.

[5:30] Alyssa isn’t sure that she has mastered work-life balance just yet.

[6:34] When starting her first business, Alyssa had no idea about the importance of systems and processes – now, though, with her new business, she really wants to document and outsource the work right from the get-go.

[7:48] When it comes to communicating boundaries and expectations to clients, Alyssa feels that things are better now.

[9:51] Alyssa’s way of doing things may not always sit well with prospects, but she talks about how that has actually been an important thing, despite it being a little bit of a constant struggle.

[13:50] For Hannah, the way you communicate your boundaries or expectations is similar to how you wrap up a package and deliver it to people.

[16:09] Massages, getting her nails and hair done, as well as cooking, and off-roading are Alyssa’s main acts of self-care related to her work-life balance (though, now, it’s harder for her to get them done because of the remote location she’s currently living in).

[18:55] While she initially struggled with work-life balance, as of late, Alyssa has made an effort to put herself first – like during a recent mastermind in Key West where, instead of working and networking like other participants, she decided to take a break because she needed a vacation.

[21:59] Melissa shares how, for her, work-life balance is a habit and that’s very easy to fall out of good habits. She stresses that it’s important to identify that, and then get back on with those good habits.

[22:35] According to Alyssa, ‘slow down to speed up’ and pre-projecting things to do – in her free time – after having completed a work task are two good things to follow and do in order to get into the good habit of work-life balance.

[25:49] Melissa opens up about going through a burnout, and how, now, she realizes that she did fall out of the good work-life balance habit. Alyssa shares a story about a recent time when she informed her team that she needed to take some time off.

[27:31] Melissa talks about the importance of choosing to rest and some challenges she has faced in recent times – and the role Hannah has played.

[29:12] Alyssa is a big advocate for work-life balance for her team as well. She has had team members letting her and others know that they would be taking some time off, and Alyssa is a fan of that. One of her main goals is to protect her team’s personal time.

[31:02] Daily check-ins – with today’s concerns and intentions – and check-outs for her team members have been a key resource that has helped Alyssa identify whenever a member of her team seemed to have been in need of some time off.

[33:18] Alyssa discloses that they’re currently hiring at both Workflow Queen and her firm Magnetic Bookkeeping and Consulting.

Mentioned in this episode:

WorkflowQueen.com

support@MagneticBookkeeping.com

@WorkflowQueen on Instagram

BKX

Asana

Bookkeepers.com

Slack

success@ilovebookkeeping.com