With this month all about time management, it’s a great opportunity to highlight a Mompowerment mama who is managing her own business and making things happen in the non-profit she started.
My chat with Ashley Byers was enlightening because of her approach to work-life balance. She has a different take. In fact, her approach is that, “Balance doesn’t exist. You just shift around all the buckets.”
I don’t take the usual approach to work-life balance, though, so Ashley’s thoughts were refreshing. I’m always open to different situations and learning about a variety of solutions and approaches to a professional part-time role. And, as a working mom reading this, it never hurts to hear more than one way you can look at work-life balance.
Ashley’s Background
Ashley studied interior design at The University of Texas at Austin. She doesn’t do the typical interior design work that you might be thinking of, though. Ashley’s expertise is more about furniture planning and project management services for commercial spaces like corporate offices or healthcare facilities. She explained that the world of furniture for businesses can be quite complicated and overwhelming for those who are setting up or refreshing a space. Her work is behind the scenes with things like researching options, managing the installation of new furniture in a space, or simply solving problems for her clients. And she’s constantly partnering with design and architectural firms to provide a specific service that they might lack expertise in.
She worked for 3 different companies over 9 years before starting AB13 Design Inc. and has been on her own since 2008. Her transition to entrepreneurship happened after the birth of her second child and her realization of the need to shift priorities. And this also empowered her to shift to the part-time approach to her career. It was an opportunity to reclaim her time and to pursue God’s calling in her life rather than her own.
Benefits of Entrepreneurship and Working Part time
Ashley likes what she does, but her career is not her life nor what defines her. Her career is one facet of her life. Part of the benefit of having your own business is controlling your schedule and being able to take time to dedicate energy to your passions. With that in mind, in 2012 (yes, 4 years after starting a business) she started a non-profit, Social Design Alliance, which was born out of the desire to merge professional training and expertise with a passion for helping others, and to give other designers in the community the opportunity to do the same. She devotes about half of her business hours to non-profit work these days with no immediate plans to make it a full-time pursuit but is open to whatever may come in the future.
For those who are interested in starting a business, Ashley doesn’t sugar coat that entrepreneurship is hard. She shares, “[Entrepreneurship” has its good and bad and it’s all about the trade-offs.” Entrepreneurship is a better situation for her family, though. Ashley felt like she was giving all of her best to her work, but after starting her business she can give more of her best to her family. Of course, when you’re managing a business and a non-profit and taking care of your family and all the things, there are a lot of buckets to manage always, which she admits can be a challenge.
What does work time look like?
With everything that Ashley takes on, she still aims for a 15-20 hour work week. Within that part-time work week, she tries to have Monday as a day dedicated to household duties and Tuesday is for work meetings. Some projects demand longer hours for a period of time, but she has no plans to go back to work full time again. (This is idea of not wanting to go back to work full-time in the long-term is something many moms shared in the interviews.)
Part of the reason that Ashley is successful in her approach to balance is her relationship with her husband and his support of her endeavors. They take a team approach to everything, sharing household and childcare duties, and the goal for the family has more to do with fulfilling purpose rather than achieving perfection.
Advice for Moms Who Are Interested in a Professional Part-time Role
Ashley has advice for those moms who are looking for more work-life balance and think that a professional part-time role could work:
- Know your limits
- Don’t over-commit
- Make sure husband/significant other is on board
- It’s OK to figure it out and not have it all be perfect at the beginning. Just don’t give up and keep trying.
Interested in reading more advice from amazing professional part-time working moms like Ashley Byers? Check out the Mompowerment book, available on Amazon (affiliate link).
