Anyone who's ever worked at a startup is familiar with the challenges of balancing work and personal and family time. But for a segment of the startup community, there's another factor at play: a day job. These four founders shared with us how they strive for work-life balance, even while living their startup dreams.
Nobel Chang co-founded Pasadena-based Easy Streak, an app that allows users to enter sports pools, after the two met in business school. Like his co-founder, Chang balances life as the company's CTO with an established career.
What is your typical day like?
My workday begins the night before. I set my to-do list and prioritize my tasks by importance and urgency. I begin my day with communicating with my team from both jobs; Easy Streak and solar. By tackling follow up emails first, I am able to focus on tasks that create value for the remainder of the morning. In the afternoon, I work on more non-creative tasks while continuing to communicate with my team. However, in the startup world, following this schedule is not always possible. Fires need to be put out. These are when work days turn into work nights.
What is your work-life balance like?
In the beginning, work-life balance was non-existent with endless 16-hour days. Albeit very fulfilling, I realized I must actively work toward a balance or else the pressures begin to physically and mentally take their toll. I spend most of my “free” time with my family or at the gym and reserve one night every other week to catch up with friends.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in your position prior to starting up?
Do your best to spot mistakes and acknowledge them as quickly as possible. Document your mistakes and lessons learned. This will be your best tool for success.
How has the whole process changed you as a person?
I have learned how to handle high levels of pressure without affecting my mood. It is important to keep a cool level head especially when plans go awry.
Like his co-founder, Williams admitted finding a balance between work, startup and personal time is a challenge.
What is your typical day like?
It starts off waking up at 5:30 a.m. Spend time praying and thinking about my day ahead. Then at 6 a.m. I answer emails, look at social media and see what's on my calendar for the day. What comes next isn't set in stone. My day can be characterized by trade-offs and sacrifice from the blending of two calendars with two different priorities, bouncing back and forth between two different mindsets. I will go from a meeting where I make strategic decisions for a whole team to another meeting where I'm being told what my boss needs.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in your position prior to starting up?
In business, and in life for that matter, surround yourself with a variety of counselors that are worthy to be in that position.
Additionally, I would say when you know the industry you're going to move into, even if you're an expert in it, talk with people in every area of the industry. There is always something to learn from those different perspectives.
How has the whole process changed you as a person?
I have really been forced to mature in one specific way this time around. I have learned to manage the highs and lows and shield the team from the stresses as much as possible and try to let them experience only the highs as much as possible. I used to be someone who, you never had to guess how I felt, and I understand this isn't something good in the volatile stage of a company you're leading.
In his career as a designer and founder, Pinwheel's Oleg Sharov has had to wear a number of hats. While managing the development of his app, Sharov also has a thriving design consultancy as well.
What is your typical day like?
I wake up at 7 a.m., check Twitter, email and Slack to make sure there were no issues with the app during the night. I have breakfast at the office or I try to schedule a breakfast meeting. After that, we have a daily stand up with the team, and then I check my email again. I try to go for a run before lunch to clear my head and stay active.
I have my lunch at the desk while "Slacking," and working on strategy, product and anything else that requires my attention. I check my email, continue to chat on Slack, and then I go home. For the rest of the night, I stay updated on Twitter, Slack and my email, and I try to read a book right before going to bed around midnight.
What is your work-life balance like?
It's still pretty bad, but slowly getting better. With all the tools out there to make it easier to stay connected, you almost feel obligated to always reply to questions and be available. I'm trying to learn how to turn them off from time-to-time to maintain my sanity.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in your position prior to starting up?
If you have a full-time job right now, you are working about 40 hours a week and have a boss. If you want to run your own startup you will work 80+ hours and no one will care about your problems, but on the upside: you won't have a boss. Make sure you find something you are absolutely passionate about, because the going will be very tough. The choice is yours.
How has the whole process changed you as a person?
I am slowly learning how to manage my time better and become more efficient. It also taught me the importance of staying active and exercising as much as possible to clear my head. We all need and have a reset button, so find yours.
For three months, Rivo's Taylor Ross worked a day job as a marketing strategist while doubling as Rivo's community manager. Though he eventually left the marketing position to focus on Rivo, he said the experience of balancing two careers has provided the discipline to thrive in his current role.
What is your typical day like?
My alarm is set for 5 a.m., with the intention of being up by 5:30. I’ll have coffee and breakfast while I read the paper, which is my daily brain warmup. At 6 a.m. I’ll respond to emails and plan out the day for the Rivo community team. Once at the office, I’ll conduct a full content review on the app until the rest of the community team trickles in. We’ll connect quickly and strategize the day ahead. This is essential as things are constantly changing on a daily basis.
Once everyone is settled in and grinding on the community team, I’ll catch up with the executive team to ensure that all of our individual efforts are aligned with our prioritized team goals. The remainder of the day I am working on Rivo social media, marketing outreach to prospective partners, new designs and content creation.
What is your work-life balance like?
This is a tough one, as any co-founder will tell you that the first thing you check at the door when starting a company is your social life. All members of the Rivo team have taken huge sacrifices in their personal life in order to help get this thing off the ground. There isn’t a whole lot of time for anything else when you’re understaffed and overburdened.
I’ve learned just how important this balance is not only for my personal well-being but also to maintain a fresh perspective on the app. If you’re too close for too long, you’re more likely to miss something right in front of you. If I do get a free second, I love me some baseball, sleep and anything Aaron Sorkin writes (in that order).
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in your position prior to starting up?
Make sure you understand the magnitude of what you’re trying to accomplish and the day-to-day volatility which comes with it. It helps to have a team of experienced folks on your founding team who have been through the grind before. Don’t let anyone else deter you from trying to finish what you started. If you do, you probably didn’t believe in the idea very much anyways.
You’ve got to be doing it for the right reasons. Create something you would truly use yourself. The rest has a way of working itself out.
How has the whole process changed you as a person?
I've grown some thick skin and gotten used to hearing "no." Expect stuff to go wrong and you’ll be surprised at how good you get at fixing it. At the beginning of the journey, I was incredibly wide-eyed. It’s so easy to get carried away with the blue-skying of what your product could be. Focus on what it is now and what you want it to look like in the next week, and not the next year. I’ve become far more disciplined and focused. With all the moving parts, it’s essential for you to take one thing at a time and focus on the task in front of you.
Responses edited for length and clarity. Images via Facebook and Shutterstock
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