Do you really think there’s such a thing as work/life balance?
It’s such a tricky question because the answer is really complicated and very personalised. Sometimes I think being a freelancer gives me amazing work-life balance. On days when I have a light load, I can pick my kid up from care early and spend some extra time with her. Sometimes I think being a freelancer gives me terrible work-life balance. When my kid dislocates her elbow (an occurrence that’s becoming more regular than I’d like it to be) and neither of us has paid carers leave and we’re both up until 2 am finishing the work we couldn’t get done while we were trapped at the hospital all day waiting for a doctor to pop her joint back into place.
Life is HARD comrades. There’s no right answer or right path which is deeply frustrating for those of us that love a plan but it is what it is. We just have to do the best we can and that’s the motto of this week’s guest Naomi Simson.
Naomi is the founder of Red Balloon and one of the sharks on Australia’s Shark Tank. She’s motivated, she’s tough and she doesn’t take any bullshit. She wrote Live What You Love which is a book that helps people to do exactly that – live what they love. It’s for entrepreneurs and employees who truly want to nail their work-life balance.
Naomi gives excellent honest advice in this episode on how to manage work and family life, raising resilient kids and being valuable in your own business as well as other peoples. She also answers a few curly listener questions and shares a fairly unpopular opinion.
We chat about switching off, concentrating, battling phone addiction and truly (truly) finding that elusive work-life balance.
In this episode, we talk about
- How she started her multi-million dollar company
- How entrepreneurship is not for everyone
- She was kind of a shit employee and that’s why she decided to needed to work for herself
- Her winning formula for making sure you give value at work
- The worry of entrepreneurship becoming trendy
- Her fail-safe motto that always gets her back on track
- The importance of spending your time on purpose
If you enjoy a little bit of tough love, these no B.S tips from Naomi will be right up your ally.
Links mentioned in this episode
The best bits from Naomi?
‘I wasn’t a good employee, I asked too many questions… I wasn’t a ‘team player’.’
‘If you want to get ahead in your job be valuable. Say you earn $60,000 a year, make sure you earn the company $180,000. Make sure you’re covering your costs.’
‘I worry about how entrepreneurship has become synonymous with celebrity. Being an entreprenuer is not for everyone. Being an employee is a fantastic thing.’
‘Don’t ask me to mentor you if you haven’t read my book.’
‘If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.’
‘Choose the way you spend your time and choose it powerfully and be truly present.’
Want more from Naomi?
You can find her @naomisimson on Instagram
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