Otherbarre3 Founder Sadie Lincoln: Can Entrepreneurs Maintain a Work-Life Balance?

Entrepreneurs don’t have a reputation for living particularly balanced lifestyles. While they enjoy more flexibility that your average nine-to-fiver, they tend to be all-consumed by their work. So how does an entrepreneur at the helm of a fast-growing company maintain any semblance of work-life balance?

For many entrepreneurs, the answer is simple: they don’t. Work is life, and vice-versa. But for Sadie Lincoln, founder of barre3, maintaining balance is essential—after all, that’s what her company is all about.

How does she do it? Sadie recently sat down with PAGATIM to share her story. (You can listen to the full podcast below.)

It’s a practice. I don’t think you ever really get there, but I have to consciously practice balance. It’s really important for me to do that because that’s the North Star of our entire company. In fact, the “3” in barre3 is a symbol of balance, it’s a yogic symbol. A triangle with three points is a perfectly balanced shape. And that’s why [my husband] Chris and I chose that number, to remember why we’re doing this.

I leave work at 3 to pick up my kids from school, and my team sees that—there is no issue with face time in our studio. We bring our dogs to work, we have a full kitchen, we eat together in our offices, we do everything we can do support balance. Our leadership style is what we call imprinting. We live it, we pour ourselves into it, and that’s how we lead. If I’m not practicing a balanced lifestyle, I’m really not leading a balanced company.”

Hear more from Sadie: