Episode 221: Practical Ways to Prevent Burnout with Lucinda Nixon

Are you on the verge of burnout in your design business? I think we’ve all been there, but you can prevent it! In today’s episode Lucinda Nixon joins us to share practical ways to prevent burnout. Listen in as she shares her experience in overcommitting, coming down with shingles, and what she put in place to avoid it happening again! Lucinda Nixon is the owner of Hello Luci, a brand identity design studio based in Tampa, Florida. She is passionate about working together with creative founders to craft sustainable businesses through brand strategy and intentional design. Outside of design work, she loves helping new designers build their design careers by sharing educational tips & resources through her YouTube channel and digital products. Experiencing Burnout as an Entrepreneur Lucinda has been hustling since college, where she was managing school, work, and freelance design work. She started seeing the first signs of overextending herself and burnout during that time. From mistakes in her design work to not paying attention in classes, Luci quickly learned what burnout could look like for her. Around 2017, Luci started a new full-time job and taken on a big project at the same time. In overcommitting to too much, Luci ended up getting sick and developing shingles. This left her unable to really complete any projects for a full two months. This was a turning point—to stop doing too much. For the first time, burnout for her hit her physically and her body told her that she needed to stop. This meant it was time to look at ways to prevent burnout. Practical Ways to Prevent Burnout Prior to this experience, Luci had been saying yes to any and every project she could book. She decided to take a look at her schedule, determine what her working hours were, and how she could build out a realistic schedule. This took her work schedule, time for rest, and how much she could dedicate to projects into consideration. Once she went through this process, she realized she can only take 2 projects per month for her branding clients. She immediately implemented a waitlist and set aside more time for rest in her calendar. Once she started putting boundaries up, she had to overcome the guilt that came with saying no to clients. If you’re struggling with this, it’s okay. You can say no to projects that you just can’t take on or don’t want to take on. Saying yes to all the things will lead to unhappiness and cost you your wellness. Actionable Boundaries Along with understanding how you can review your time to prevent burnout, Luci has incorporated a few additional boundaries that help her navigate work and avoid burnout: * Is the client a good fit? By looking at the industry of the client, is it something she’s passionate about, and do her values align with the clients’?* What are the communication styles of the clients and do they match her style? When you’re working long term with a client, you need to be on the same wavelength for communication.* Nailing down services and projects that she was invested in and passionate about. Guided Journaling for Designers If you’re looking to really hone in on setting boundaries for your design business, you can join Luci in a 4-week guided journaling series, made just for you. After enrolling in this free series, you will receive prompts once a week in your inbox, for reflection throughout your week and during certain seasons of your design journey.