Setting Boundaries Without Guilt in Client-Centred Work

In this episode of EmpowerHer Entrepreneur, host Janis Boudreau explores the powerful yet challenging topic of setting professional boundaries without guilt—a crucial skill for Footcare Nurses and wellness entrepreneurs. Balancing compassion with self-preservation is not easy in client-centred work, but it’s essential for maintaining your health, your business, and your ability to serve others.

Through personal insights, real-life examples, and actionable strategies, Janis guides listeners on how to identify where boundaries are needed, communicate them clearly, and honour them confidently—without the weight of guilt. This empowering conversation is designed specifically for Footcare Nurses who want to grow sustainable practices while staying true to their values.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:35

Welcome back to Empower Her Entrepreneur, the podcast created by and for entrepreneurial footcare nurses. I'm your host, Janice Bujo, and I'm so glad you're here. This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Footcare Nurse and Wellness Center and the AFCN Learning Institute, two organizations dedicated to empowering nurses to grow their businesses and care for their communities with confidence. So today's episode is all about something we all wrestle with: setting boundaries without guilt in client-centered work. Why boundaries matter? As footcare nurses, we enter this profession because we care. Nurses genuinely care. That's why everyone loves us. Everyone loves to come to us. We want to serve, to heal, to connect. But sometimes that same heart of service, ladies, can lead us to overextend ourselves. Let's see, maybe you've answered client texts, emails late at night, and said yes to an appointment when you were already exhausted or allowed someone's need to overshadow your own. This happens quite frequently, and it's a journey I had to learn early on. I remember foot nursing the first couple years, and I think the excitement of getting a client, booking a client, have a recurring client, we tend to blur a little bit and we we focus so much on servicing that client that we're really not meeting our life work balance and what's going to work for us. I remember I am going to be honest, I was very unprofessional early on. I actually had clients on my Facebook. What in the actual was I thinking? This isn't somebody who I knew first and became a client. I can see this happening. However, I would get friend invites, and then I would feel bad if I didn't accept their friend invite to because I wanted to keep them on as a client. I would definitely say this is my first, that was my first year in business. Most of my roles have been in long-term care, or I was a manager of um community care. And I had never dealt with the one-on-one like that, or what I was going to, you know, have to deal with. So I quickly, quickly, thank heavens, learned and pivoted and got away from that really awful practice. There should be no clients on anything personal that you have. Um, the best thing to do with any type of social media is to make it extremely private. You can make it so people can't find you. You have to find them. How about that? These are things, I mean, you you've really got to be careful. You never wanna um cross the nurse client relationship. If you look at your college and what they say about that, so always, always keep it professional and then you're not gonna hit burnout, you're not gonna be overextended. Here's the truth when we blur the lines too much, we not only put ourselves at risk of burnout, we also rob our clients of the best version of us. Boundaries are not walls, they're doorways that protect our energy so we can continue to serve fully. Think of it this way: when you set boundaries, you're actually modeling healthy self-care for your clients. You're showing them that they too can honor their own limits. Some of these boundaries that get crossed could be, well, I know you're done at four, but is there any way I just can't? Can you see me at five? No. The answer is no. Stick to your plan of care, your hours of work, what you are going to offer. Maybe take a moment to sit down and decide what parameters and what ways clients can contact you. Also, you can put even an automation on your emails after 5 p.m. That you know will get back to you within one business day. The more you sometimes become available, the more they can stretch it. I'm not talking about those emergent situations that that you know, very, very few and far between that may arise. Uh, I have now said it that I don't even look at my emails after 5 p.m. And there's an automated message on there. You know what? There are so many avenues they can get a hold of you. If you've got a Facebook business page, they can hit Messenger. Um, if you've got online booking, these are all ways that you know you can kind of answer them and help them, but not cross your boundaries. Uh, there are certain things that you need to remember in business, even like sales promotions. Um, you while you cannot discount medical foot care, you could be carrying shoelines or you know, other products. Um, also stick to your, you know, there's some people who, you know, well, hey, I've been a longtime client. Do you think you could give me like a two for one? No, keep your boundaries high. You know what you're offering and what you're giving. So here's some of the common challenges. Let's talk about where the guilt comes in. Many of us feel guilty when we say no. We worry that clients will see us as unkind, uncaring, or even unprofessional. But here's the reality: clear, respectful boundaries actually create the trust. Clients know what to expect, and that's key, especially with our older clients. And that consistency builds professionalism. Some common challenges footcare nurses face include clients expecting 24-7 communication, overlapping personal and professional time, and saying yes to things outside our scope because we don't want to disappoint. If any of those sound familiar, you're not alone. I've been there too. And guess what? It's possible to change that pattern. I interrupted my pattern in my first year of business. And I'm talking 14 years ago, there wasn't anything I wouldn't do to get a client in the seat, and I am such a kind and compassionate person. I want to make sure to, because they can start to ask you, hey, you know, since I'm here, do you think you could take care of this? If you're not offering, like what happened to me, vitamin, what was it, vitamin B or some type of injections? Um, can I bring it for my doctor? Do you think you could just inject me? Because, you know, I'm coming to you for foot care. Well, that's not, hey, if I had that service, great, but that's not a service I offer. And the communication, yes, blocked everyone on social media. There should be no one. I'm not talking about business pages, I'm talking about personal pages. And then setting up the communication that I had a lot of avenues for them because of online booking and uh question and answers that automatically fill on Facebook, but I really changed that communication with them also. So, some practical tools for setting up your boundaries. So, how do we set these boundaries without guilt? And here's some practical strategies. Define your non-negotiables. Decide in advance what you will and will not do. For example, I don't take calls after 6 p.m. Communicate clearly and early. Include your hours and policies in your intake forms, welcome packets and appointment confirmation. That is huge. I actually am just really starting to tweak mine. So the minute somebody books, whether it be online or we add the manual through our system, yes, they're getting an intake form, they're getting information because they need to understand. And this, oh man, huge. I'll probably talk about it at the at the end of uh these five, is a cancellation policy. Okay, number three, use neutral professional language. Instead of saying, I can't do that, try here's how I can support you within my practice. That way you're turning a negative into a positive when you have to say no, and you're gonna get a much better feel good about that negotiation. Four, give yourself permission. Remember, saying no to one thing means saying yes to your life, your family, and your long-term success. Five, practice self-compassion. Boundaries may feel uncomfortable at first, but that doesn't mean they're wrong. It just means they're growing. Some of the things, um, especially for foot nurses, is putting in a cancellation policy. I think that's extremely important. I would say that's one of the most abusive things that I've seen happen, whether it be home visits or in all my clinics, and I'm going to use the word abusive. Um, I'm not talking about the one lady her husband goes into the hospital in the middle of the night or she wakes up sick. But you know, those are the few and far betweens. I'm talking about, you know, um Mrs. Goodwell, who is late almost to every single one of her appointments. You know what? I am a non-confrontational person. So it's difficult for me to sometimes say things one-on-one. If you find that's the case, send out a professional email or a policy. And like us, we have a cancellation policy. If you're going to do that, you know, you owe us 50% back. And if we have a client that cancels multiple times, they're no longer being serviced by us. These are some of the things that you can definitely put into play. Because you know what? They are breaching our boundaries, they're wasting our time. So let's reframe reframing your guilt. Let's reframe guilt instead of seeing boundaries as selfish, think of them as part of your professional standard of care. Imagine a nurse who never slept, never ate, and always put others first. Would you trust her to give you safe quality care? Probably not. Boundaries aren't about rejection, they're about sustainability. They allow us to keep showing up for our clients in the long run. We want to give the most professional image possible. I have seen, like I said, on many occasions, some really unprofessional things happen, whether it be um colleagues or maybe not even in this industry, where nurses are really stretching the boundaries. Um, I've seen, and there was a nurse that had the client bringing her in snacks and groceries for her children. So through that relationship, whatever that had developed, if you can imagine that foot nurse started verbally telling this client, who apparently had all this stocked up stuff, oh yeah, my kids love that. Well, she was after. So it does go both ways too. Um, that foot nurse really broke her boundaries. You, you don't, you're not accepting things like that. Like, I'm not sure what kind of relationship that would even be, that your client is now bringing you in bags of groceries. I have seen some very, very interesting things in my career. And you want to be very careful. Your professional appearance and what you're doing with boundaries are also reportable to your college. So you want to be extremely careful about that nurse client relationship. And no, your client shouldn't be bringing you in groceries. And I'm not talking about a chocolate bar or a little treat, because I do know that happens and that can make them feel good. I'm talking in excess of um things that could be offered and done. So as you reflect on today's episode, I encourage you to ask yourself, where in my business do I need to set one new boundary this week? Maybe it's in your schedule, maybe it's in your communication, maybe it's even in how you manage your energy. Remember, boundaries are a form of kindness to yourself and to the people you serve. So thank you for joining me on the Empower Her Entrepreneur. And if you found this helpful, please share it with a fellow foot care nurse. And don't forget to subscribe for more episodes that empower you to thrive as a both a foot nurse and an entrepreneur.