Mark Daoust is the founder and President of Quiet Light Brokerage and CatholicSingles. He is a successful entrepreneur, a brave father of 6 children and a faith-based person with a motivating life philosophy. Listen to our inspiring conversation about managing the happiest and the toughest moments in life.

Welcome to the Managing Happiness podcast!

My name is David Henzel and I’ve been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I’ve built and sold my company, which seems to be the dream come true for most entrepreneurs. However, I believe my greatest achievement is that I’ve managed to create and maintain a balanced life with my wife and daughter through the stressful days of starting and running the business.

In this podcast, you will listen to fireside chats with inspiring entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and lessons learned in search of work-life balance.

About Mark Daoust

Mark is the founder and President of Quiet Light Brokerage - a website brokerage firm specialized in exit planning and sales of internet businesses. He founded Quiet Light after selling an online publication that he built which boasted over 220,000 subscribers.

Recently, Mark has acquired his second business, a 20-year-old online dating service called CatholicSingles.com.

He’s been happily married for 14 years and has 6 children, 5 boys, and a girl. His oldest son is 11 years old and his 6th kid was born a few months ago.

Time Stamped Show Notes

[00:14] – Mark Daoust is running two business and has 6 children.

[00:49] – Mark’s life goal is to never have to mow the lawn again. :)  

[01:04] – Mark bought CatholicSingles.com because it was a new challenge with great business potential and it is involved with his faith.

[04:04] – Helping people sell their business has a great impact on their lives but fails in comparison with helping them find their life mate.

[04:17] – There is a certain edification creating an environment which helps people meet each other and gives them a purpose to their life outside of business.

[04:58] – How did you learn about CatholicSingles.com?

[07:01] – How Quiet Light Brokerage works.

[09:40] – Some people say it takes more work to sell a business than to build it.

[10:53] – Have you defined your vision, mission, and values for each of your businesses?

[11:03] – “I don’t want to have a large corporation with lots of people. It doesn’t fit in with my life.”

[13:21] – “I would never want to have somebody sell their business and a year later think “That was a really really stupid thing to do”.”

[13:31] – Financially it doesn’t make sense to sell a business because running it you make more money in the long run. That’s why people buy businesses.

[14:01] – “People sell (their businesses) because the landscape of their life changes. Something else changes in their life, their goals change or the opportunity landscape changes.”

[15:30] – What drives you to do what you’re doing?

[16:57] – The lesson Mark learned when his dad passed away.

[17:49] – The thought of death should be motivating instead of depressing.

[19:55] – We don’t think about the big questions in life enough. We are masters at distraction.

[20:30] – Mark’s challenge: sit in a room, shut everything off and try to spend 30-45 minutes with your own thoughts.

[22:15] – Which are the 3 books that influenced you most in your life and what was the last book that you read?

[28:13] – Mark’s tip for work-life balance: stick to your priorities.

[30:32] – David’s tip for work-life balance: define all the roles that you have in your life and take time for each one of them.

[33:48] – Commuting to the office for 10-15 minutes gives you enough time to turn off your brain and not get consumed by thoughts about work.

[34:20] – What was the toughest thing you went through with your family?

[39:23] – Mark’s secret to a happy and fulfilling marriage is giving unconditional love, pouring yourself out to the other person until there’s nothing else left.

[41:22] – We, humans, feel the happiest when we give back to the others.

[44:11] – Applying business principles to family life can make it a lot easier.  

[45:00] – Finding out what you want in life is a great challenge.

3 Key Points

If you know what your priorities are and you dedicate time to each of them, it is a lot easier to achieve balance in life.

The key to a happy and fulfilling family life is pouring yourself out 100% and giving unconditional love.

In order to find what you want in life, you should learn to spend time alone with your thoughts, isolate yourself from all the distractions and look for the answers to the big questions.

Resources Mentioned

Quiet Light Brokerage - a website brokerage firm specialized in exit planning and sales of internet businesses

CatholicSingles.com - a 20-year-old online dating service for Catholics

Prince Caspianː The Return to Narnia - a novel by C. S. Lewis, part of the Chronicles of Narnia series

Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany - a book by Stephen E. Ambrose about the World War II

Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta – this historic work reveals the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and important religious figures in history, Mother Teresa

15 Secrets About Time Management – a book by Kevin Kruse about time being our most valuable asset

Follow Mark Daoust

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdaoust/

https://twitter.com/markdaoust

https://www.facebook.com/mark.daoust

https://plus.google.com/+MarkDaoust2013

https://www.quietlightbrokerage.com/about/mark-daoust

Follow David Henzel

https://www.davidhenzel.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhenzel/

https://www.facebook.com/david.henzel

https://twitter.com/davidhenzel

https://www.instagram.com/davidhenzel/

https://www.youtube.com/davidhenzel  

https://plus.google.com/+DavidHenzel

Learn more about the Managing Happiness Course

https://www.managinghappiness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Managing-Happiness-695467660602905/

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/22329666/

Brett Florio is the founder and CEO of the eCommerce platform Foxy. Brett and his family spend 6 months of every year touring the United States and Canada with their RV.

How does he manage to stay productive? How does he find the balance between work, traveling and homeschooling his children? Find out in the 6th episode of the Managing Happiness show!

Welcome to the Managing Happiness podcast!

My name is David Henzel and I’ve been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I’ve built and sold my company, which seems to be the dream come true for most entrepreneurs. However, I believe my greatest achievement is that I’ve managed to create and maintain a balanced life with my wife and daughter through the stressful days of starting and running the business.

In this podcast, you will listen to fireside chats with inspiring entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and lessons learned in search of work-life balance.

About Brett Florio

Brett Florio is a co-founder and CEO of FoxyCart (currently rebranding to Foxy.io) – a customizable eCommerce platform. Brett and his business partner started Foxy 10 years ago and bootstrapped the company.

Brett is married and has 3 beautiful daughters. He used to live in Los Angeles but moved to Austin, Texas, and now his family spends half the year touring the US in their RV (recreational vehicle).

In this interview, he will share how he maintains his work life balance while traveling with his family 6 months every year and homeschooling his children.

Time Stamped Show Notes

[00:14] – Brett Florio is the founder and CEO of the eCommerce platform Foxy and a father of 3 daughters.

[00:58] – Foxy is an eCommerce platform for developers. It is built to add eCommerce functionalities to existing systems.

[01:38] – Foxy is not a CMS. It gives you custom eCommerce without having to build all the modules needed for eCommerce.

[02:55] – Why FoxyCart is rebranding to Foxy.io.

[05:09] – Bootstrapping Foxy was a very good decision.

[05:48] – Foxy’s target audience consists of developers and the company didn’t need traditional marketing to grow.

[06:48] – The benefit of raising money is that you also get experienced advisors helping you with your business.

[07:10] – If MaxCDN had engaged with advisors earlier, it may have avoided many mistakes.

[07:58] – Joining advisory groups in search of counsel and advice.

[08:40] – The vision and mission of a business are far more valuable than a business plan with imaginary numbers.

[09:14] – Having personal mission statement helps a lot with decision-making and prioritizing.

[10:10] – In the beginning, Brett and his business partner had different expectations for the business.

[10:53] – Early on they managed to align their personal goals with their business goals and came up with their “primary aims”.

[11:10] – Brett’s goal was to be able to travel the world while giving his children the most amazing education available.

[12:30] – You spend more time with your business partner than with your spouse.

[12:48] – The importance of choosing the right business partner.

[13:27] – “My spouse refers to my business partner as my other spouse”.

[14:07] – “The relationship between business partners can be wonderful or can be awful. My first business ended in a very strive-filled way because I didn’t trust my gut.”

[16:15] – There’s a German saying that if someone doesn’t take care of themselves or the people around them, then you shouldn’t do business with them.

[17:00] – “Any sign of dishonesty (in a potential business partner), I’d consider a major red flag.”

[17:52] – What are the books that influenced you the most in your life?

[19:26] – Intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic motivation.

[20:23] – Making decisions out of love vs making decisions out of fear.

[23:55] – The benefits of homeschooling.

[26:26] – Working on the road - office in the RV, working from cafes and libraries, business hours and more.

[28:29] – Everybody struggles with time, even when they work remotely.

[29:27] – Brett plays music with his kids every evening. His music instrument is Dobro - a bluegrass instrument.

[32:25] – “Neither personally, nor in business do we adhere to super strict schedules.”

[34:35] – Sticking to schedules is easier and has benefits, but there are many cases in which you don’t want to micromanage your business and family.

[43:35] – NPS (Net Promoter Score) is like accounting for customer happiness.

3 Key Points

Choosing a business partner is a crucial decision for your business so look for red flags and listen to your gut feeling.

Homeschooling is about liberating children from the notions of threats, punishments, and rewards, and helping them develop their intrinsic motivation.

It is not necessary to micromanage every aspect of your business and family to be happy and achieve results.

Resources Mentioned

FoxyCart (now Foxy.io) - an eCommerce platform for web professionals

Vistage - a business advisory and executive coaching organization

Brave New World - a novel by Aldous Huxley

Unconditional Parenting - a book on parenting by Alfie Kohn

Free Will - a book by Sam Harris

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - a book by Daniel H. Pink

Follow Brett Florio

http://brettflorio.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettflorio/

https://twitter.com/brettflorio

https://plus.google.com/+BrettFlorio  

Follow David Henzel

https://www.davidhenzel.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhenzel/

https://www.facebook.com/david.henzel

https://twitter.com/davidhenzel

https://www.instagram.com/davidhenzel/

https://www.youtube.com/davidhenzel  

https://plus.google.com/+DavidHenzel

Learn more about the Managing Happiness Course

https://www.managinghappiness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Managing-Happiness-695467660602905/

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/22329666/

How to build a tech company with 6 million users and raise 4 children while working side by side with your spouse - the story of Marieke van de Rakt and Joost de Valk, the extraordinary people behind Yoast.

 

Welcome to the Managing Happiness podcast!

My name is David Henzel and I’ve been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I’ve built and sold my company, which seems to be the dream come true for most entrepreneurs. However, I believe my greatest achievement is that I’ve managed to create and maintain a balanced life with my wife and daughter through the stressful days of starting and running the business.

In this podcast, you will listen to fireside chats with inspiring entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and lessons learned in search of work-life balance.

About Marieke van de Rakt

Marieke is a Ph.D. in Social Sciences and worked as a researcher and teacher at multiple universities.

Joost and Marieke already had 3 children when they realized that pursuing different careers and taking care of the children was near impossible. In September 2013, Marieke gave up her academic career and joined Yoast.

She is now one of the partners at the company. Her main focus is the Yoast Academy and developing SEO strategy products. She writes blog posts, eBooks and develops online courses. Her expertise is SEO copywriting and site structure.

About Joost de Valk

Joost is a 36-year-old web developer, SEO and online marketeer. In the early days of his career, he worked in several companies, ranging from enterprise hosting to online marketing agencies. This allowed him to work with several of the largest brands in the world.

He founded CSS3.info – the biggest CSS3 resource on the web – in 2006 and sold it in 2009.In 2010, Joost created Yoast, which focuses on software, training, and services for website optimization. The Yoast team has close to 50 people around the world. Yoast SEO, Yoast’s main software product, is currently active in over 6 million WordPress websites.

Time Stamped Show Notes

[01:08] – Yoast is a software company, most famous for its Yoast SEO plugin, which provides products, training, and services for website optimization, digital marketing and open source.

[02:36] – Marieke and Joost have 4 children, the oldest is 11 and the youngest is 2.

[03:48] – Marieke left her job as a university teacher to join Yoast and it became a lot easier to manage the family.

[04:10] – Both of them were pursuing different careers going in different directions and it was impossible to spend enough time with their 3 children at the time.

[04:36] – Marieke joining Yoast led to an immense growth for the company.

[05:30] – “We would never tell people that their work is more important than their kids”

[05:44] – Yoast gives its employees 5 extra days a year to spend with their families.

[06:59] – If possible, Marieke and Yoast combine work trips with vacations with their children.

[08:34] – Their children spend a lot of time in the Yoast office, which is near their home.

[09:05] – Every year there’s a Lego Build Day at the Yoast office and the entire team builds legos. Last year they built 52,000 bricks of Lego in one day.

[10:17] – The partners of Yoast gather every year for a big BBQ with their entire families.

[10:53] – Joost about the company culture “We try to make it one big happy family”

[12:25] – Yoast is approaching its 50th employee and only 7-8 people have left over the last 7 years.

[12:52] – They focus on the work-life balance of their employees.

[13:40] – “We think that if something is good for our employees, it will be good for us as well”.

[14:08] – An NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey worked very well for David’s MaxCDN.

[16:09] – Marieke talks about the “Know Your Colleague” list and the survey she runs to encourage her team to get to know each other.

[17:38] – Joost built the Yoast SEO tool with the mission to make the SEO knowledge accessible to everyone.

[18:03] – Unlike many companies, Yoast releases new features for both its free and premium products.

[19:51] – “We want to make it possible for everyone to build a website that is actually found”

[20:08] – 20% of the company profits is shared with its employees and another 20% goes back to the community.

[21:09] – Joost’s personal mission is to help the world understand open source.

[21:23] – “That’s all about equality. We want everyone to have a fair chance on the web.Open source should be part of that. Our plugin is part of that.”

[23:01] – Making money is important when you have 50 employees, but money is not necessarily the goal that they pursue.

[28:35] – Marieke is in charge of the weekly family planning while Joost does most of the cooking, sports with the kids, etc. Each of them knows his/her responsibilities.

[29:20] – They have a planning board in their kitchen with every family member’s activities.

[30:20] – “The secret to having a long a happy marriage is just saying “yes” a lot”.

[31:05] – Getting a cleaning lady helps Marieke and Joost free time for the things they value more.

[33:31] – Both Marieke and Joost look after the children and outsource most of the home maintenance work - cleaning, gardening, etc.

[34:22] – Joost gets easily distracted by thoughts about work when he is at home.

[34:40] – Joost realized he doesn’t need most of his notifications and keeps killing them.

[34:52] – He admits he is a workaholic, but yet he spends a lot of time with his children.

[36:49] – Joost can do 95% of his work on his phone.

[37:43] – When on holiday, he mutes his phone and disables the notifications.

[38:33] – What is the one thing that drives you nuts about your spouse? :)

[40:24] – The issues of working together with your life partner.

3 Key Points

Raising a family and building a company is possible when both partners put their energy in the same direction.

Fostering a friendly and family-like company culture is essential for building a successful business.

When you strongly believe in your mission, not every company decision you make is commercially driven. However, you need money to fulfill your mission, so finding the balance is important.

Resources Mentioned

Yoast - a software company providing products, training, and services for website optimization

Yoast SEO - a plugin for SEO optimization

Trello - a task management tool

Follow Marieke van de Rakt

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariekerakt/

https://www.facebook.com/mariekerakt

https://twitter.com/mariekerakt

Follow Joost de Valk

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdevalk/

https://www.facebook.com/jdevalk

https://twitter.com/jdevalk

https://www.instagram.com/joostdevalk/

Follow David Henzel

https://www.davidhenzel.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhenzel/

https://www.facebook.com/david.henzel

https://twitter.com/davidhenzel

https://www.instagram.com/davidhenzel/

https://www.youtube.com/davidhenzel  

https://plus.google.com/+DavidHenzel

Learn more about the Managing Happiness Course

https://www.managinghappiness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Managing-Happiness-695467660602905/

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/22329666/

An honest and motivating conversation with iTheme’s CEO Cory Miller – a proud husband, father, and entrepreneur with the bold mission to make people’s lives awesome.

 

Welcome to the Managing Happiness podcast!

My name is David Henzel and I’ve been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I’ve built and sold my company, which seems to be the dream come true for most entrepreneurs. However, I believe my greatest achievement is that I’ve managed to create and maintain a balanced life with my wife and daughter through the stressful days of starting and running the business.

In this podcast, you will listen to fireside chats with inspiring entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and lessons learned in search of work-life balance.

About Cory Miller

Cory Miller is a passionate entrepreneur who believes in finding and maintaining work happiness that aligns with your purpose and plays to your strengths, talents, and ambitions while challenging you to do great things with your life.

In 2008, he started iThemes, which builds web design software and offers cutting-edge web design training for thousands of customers around the globe. In addition, Cory is happily married with two children.

In this episode of the Managing Happiness show, he will share how he keeps his work-life balance through peer support groups.

Time Stamped Show Notes

[00:52] – ZenTribes are groups of 6-8 like-minded entrepreneurs walking together, sharing stories, experiences, and life, in order to encourage and support one another.

[03:22] – “Being in this peer group of entrepreneurs, like-minded, on the same path, with similar values has been so key to my everything. My whole being, my happiness today, my health.”

[06:35] – The group is not about advice, it is about experience sharing. Cory believes that sharing a story of how you managed a certain situation is way more powerful than telling the other person what to do.

[08:44] – David opens up about of the toughest period in his life and shares how he overcame it.

[13:40] – Leaders should lead their people even when they are going through tragic personal events.

[14:12] – MaxCDN has been hacked in the past.

[14:45] – iThemes has been hacked in the past, as well.

[15:20] – It is very rare to have both your personal and professional life going smoothly.

[15:32] – Cory talks about his divorce and how it impacted his work.

[17:50] – He shares the reason for separating from his first wife.

[18:44] – “In my first marriage, I didn’t have a partner. This marriage, I have a partner, a lover, a spouse, a best friend. Our stars are aligned.”

[19:44] – “Not every relationship is meant to last forever.”

[21:02] – Cory’s divorce has helped him learn from his mistakes and find happiness in life.

[21:49] – In one of Cory’s peer groups two other people got divorced and they had someone to talk to who has been through the same and understands the pain.

[23:36] – The things that have challenged Cory in the last few years are: 1) marriage; 2) children; 3) midlife.

[26:54] – Cory explains what it means to wear his CEO hat in the office and his Dad hat at home.

[31:55] – “I am not the CEO at home, I am a co-leader of our family.”

[32:59] – One of the key purposes in Cory’s life is to eradicate and erase the stigma on mental health on the planet.

[36:42] – iTheme’s vision statement – “Make people’s lives awesome”.

3 Key Points

   Entrepreneurs receive great emotional support in entrepreneurial peer groups.

   Entrepreneurs have different roles at home and at work. In order to differentiate them, Cory has created the concepts of a CEO hat and a Dad hat.

   Many entrepreneurs suffer from mental health issues without telling anyone. It is time to bring awareness about the issue, and eradicate the mental health stigma.

Resources Mentioned

iThemes – a one-stop shop for WordPress themes, plugins and training

Backup Buddy - a WordPress backup plugin by iThemes

iThemes Security – a WordPress security plugin by iThemes

iThemes Sync – a plugin that allows you to manage many WordPress websites all in one place

ZenTribes - groups of 6-8 like-minded entrepreneurs walking together, sharing stories, experiences, and life in order to encourage and support one another

Entrepreneur’s Organization – a global network for entrepreneurs helping them learn and grow through peer-to-peer learning

Follow Cory Miller

http://corymiller.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/corymiller/

https://www.facebook.com/iamcory

https://twitter.com/corymiller303

https://www.instagram.com/corymiller303/

Follow David Henzel

https://www.davidhenzel.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhenzel/

https://www.facebook.com/david.henzel

https://twitter.com/davidhenzel

https://www.instagram.com/davidhenzel/

https://www.youtube.com/davidhenzel  

https://plus.google.com/+DavidHenzel

Learn more about the Managing Happiness Course

https://www.managinghappiness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Managing-Happiness-695467660602905/

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/22329666/

An intimate conversation on work-life balance with Harsh Agrawal, one of India’s top tech influencers and a happily married man.

Welcome to the Managing Happiness podcast!

My name is David Henzel and I’ve been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I’ve built and sold my company, which seems to be the dream come true of most entrepreneurs. However, I believe my greatest achievement is that I’ve managed to create and maintain a balanced life with my wife and daughter through the stressful days of starting and running the business.

In this podcast, you’ll listen to fireside chats with inspiring entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and lessons learned in search of work-life balance.

About Harsh Agrawal

Harsh Agrawal is a professional blogger and one of the top tech influencers in India. His blog ShoutMeLoud has become wildly successful and empowers more than 900,000+ readers globally to make a living through blogging. Harsh is a famous person in the WordPress community. In addition to ShoutMeLoud, he is managing a few more blogs on tech innovation, cryptocurrencies, and WordPress management. Harsh is a happily married man working side by side to his spouse, who is also a full-time blogger.

In this conversation, he shares how he achieves work-life balance through spiritual growth and life philosophy.

Time Stamped Show Notes

[00:38] - ShoutMeLoud empowers people to discover their passion and make a living out of it.

[02:12] - Harsh talks about the rest of his blogs.

[03:19] - Harsh’s wife quit her job and became a full-time blogger.

[06:39] - In order to delegate your tasks properly, you have to develop the full potential of your employees and make them as good as you are.

[07:44] - Your employees won’t leave you if you give them opportunities for personal growth.

[08:51] - The importance of having a sense of fulfillment.

[10:16] – Being a boss vs. being a leader.

[10:52] – There are two types of people - born leaders and those who are about to discover their leadership potential.

[14:05] - David talking about overcoming his fears and transforming from an introvert to an extrovert.

[17:11] - “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”

[18:05] - Harsh talking about fame and its negative consequences.

[19:59] - Harsh’s mission to share his knowledge and help people find a new way of life.

[21:02] - How to find the true meaning of life through spirituality.

[22:30] - Successful people meditate.

[23:19] - “I found peace in my life. Even if I have everything or I don’t have anything, I have me. I am not going to change and I am happy.”

[26:05] - “Money is the enabler that helps you live your life the way you want to.”

3 Key Points

We as individuals normally feel fulfilled when we operate, sleep and feel happy with what we are doing. That’s all we need. It doesn’t matter what we’re working or in what field. It’s all about fulfillment.

Everyone has leadership qualities. Some are born leaders, while others need more time and support to discover their strengths.

You can find the meaning of life through spirituality. Meditation and yoga are the tools that make life better. They remove anxiety, fear of missing out and help us connect to our inner selves.

Resources Mentioned

ShoutMeLoud - blog and community of like-minded bloggers

ShoutMeTech - technology blog

WP Sutra - blog and WordPress community

CoinSutra - blog and community of bitcoin users

Follow Harsh Agrawal

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denharsh/

https://www.facebook.com/shoutharsh

https://twitter.com/denharsh

https://www.instagram.com/denharsh/

https://www.youtube.com/denharsh

Follow David Henzel

https://www.davidhenzel.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhenzel/

https://www.facebook.com/david.henzel

https://twitter.com/davidhenzel

https://www.instagram.com/davidhenzel/

https://www.youtube.com/davidhenzel

https://plus.google.com/+DavidHenzel

Learn more about the Managing Happiness Course

https://www.managinghappiness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Managing-Happiness-695467660602905/

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/22329666/

An interview with David Braun, a serial entrepreneur, CEO of TemplateMonster, public activist and a happy father of 4 children.

Welcome to the Managing Happiness podcast!

My name is David Henzel and I’ve been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I’ve built and sold my company, which seems to be the dream come true of most entrepreneurs. However, I believe my greatest achievement is that I’ve managed to create and maintain a balanced life with my wife and daughter through the stressful days of starting and running the business.

In this podcast, you’ll listen to fireside chats with inspiring entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and lessons learned in search of work-life balance.

About David Braun

David is a Ukrainian public activist and serial entrepreneur. In May 2002 together with his mates, he co-founded TemplateMonster - a website template provider with 1,5 million users worldwide. David is the founder of People's Project - a military and civil crowdfunding platform to support people who suffered during the war in Ukraine.

He is a happy father of 4 children, a drummer and a passionate social activist in the development of small businesses. David has been married two times and in this interview, he will share his lessons learned on the way to finding work-life balance.

Time Stamped Show Notes

[00:49] - The story of TemplateMonster, a template provider with 1,5 million users worldwide.

[01:22] - David comes back to Ukraine and becomes a civil activist during the war.

[01:47] - One of David’s charity initiatives is a fund using bio tech to help wounded soldiers.

[02:51] - David is a father of 4 kids who has been married twice.

[03:04] - His family life used to be tough because he couldn’t find his work-life balance.

[03:33] - David met his first wife in the university. People change a lot at that age and if they don’t put continuous effort to be in sync with each other, they fall apart and start living separate lives.

[04:33] – People in common families don’t talk about their shared vision.

[05:04] – You need continuous effort in order to be in sync with your partner.

[05:54] - “Now, after 15 years of management experience, I know that you have to do sort of meetings where you discuss the (family) strategy. What do both of us expect from this marriage? How do we see our future in a few years? What are our goals? What are our plans?”

[06:17] - David talks about the warning signs in a relationship and the “early exit”.

[08:27] - What is the thing that you do that drives the people around you nuts?

[11:59] - David believes that writing down a personal mission statement is a very useful exercise.

[12:14] - What drives him is the possibility to help people grow their businesses.

[14:52] - David’s question to the next guest: “Are you applying the tactics from the Managing Happiness course and what are the results?”

3 Key Points

If both partners change careers, social environment and lifestyle, they can easily grow apart and get the feeling that they live in “parallel universes”. In order to preserve the relationship, they should put continuous effort to be in sync with each other.

People should apply strategic planning to their relationship. Asking yourselves what you expect from your marriage, what are your goals and plans, can help you tackle potential issues early on, or choose “an early exit”.

It is a great practice to sit down and write your personal vision statement.

Resources Mentioned

TemplateMonster - a website template provider with 1,5+ M users

Weblium - a website builder powered by TemplateMonster

People's Project - a military and civil crowdfunding platform to support people who suffered during the war in Ukraine

Follow David Braun

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-braun-43aa5/

https://www.facebook.com/david.braun.50951

https://twitter.com/davidbraun

Follow David Henzel

https://www.davidhenzel.com/

https://www.facebook.com/david.henzel

https://twitter.com/davidhenzel

https://www.youtube.com/davidhenzel

https://www.instagram.com/davidhenzel/

https://plus.google.com/+DavidHenzel

Learn more about the Managing Happiness Course

https://www.managinghappiness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Managing-Happiness-695467660602905/

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/22329666/

An interview with Syed Balkhi, a serial entrepreneur, CEO of Awesome Motive, and a father of a 6-month-old.

Welcome to the Managing Happiness podcast!

My name is David Henzel and I’ve been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I’ve built and sold my company, which seems to be the dream come true of most entrepreneurs. However, I believe my greatest achievement is that I’ve managed to create and maintain a balanced life with my wife and daughter through the stressful days of starting and running the business.

In this podcast, you’ll listen to fireside chats with inspiring entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and lessons learned in search of work-life balance.

About Syed Balkhi

Syed Balkhi is a serial entrepreneur who runs the phenomenal 28 companies being only 26 years old. He founded his first business at the age of 14 and currently he is one of the most recognized names in the WordPress space. Syed is the CEO of Awesome Motive, a marketer by background, a regular speaker at conferences, a proud husband and a father of the 6-month-old baby boy Solomon.

Time Stamped Show Notes

[00:39] - Syed has 28 businesses.

[01:40] - Combining work and family requires conscious efforts such as setting clear boundaries between the two and spending quality time with the family without being disturbed by work-related matters.

[02:40] - Syed is 26 years old and moving fast both in business and his personal life.

[04:00] - There was a drastic change in his life after the baby came and he had to delegate more tasks than expected. Becoming a father made him a better entrepreneur.

[04:50] -  “There is no school to be a CEO. So, you learn as you go and you are always constantly improving. With the kid coming in, I got a lot better, because I had a new perspective on life.”

[06:12] - Having a kid has changed Syed’s priorities and he became better at saying “No”.

[06:50] - He started combining business trips with family trips.

[08:18] - Syed had a hard time delegating tasks and roles in the company.

[14:10] - “I think the biggest reason for my success is that I approach life as if everything was made for me despite all the hard things”

[15:20] - Since you are very well-off and your son will be very well-off, what do you do to make sure he will have the drive to accomplish things in life?

[16:30] - Teach your children by showing them a good example and letting them earn what they want. “There’s no 5/29 education plan for my kid to go to college. I think he needs to earn that.”

[18:40] - Syed shares the mission and vision of his business.

[20:48] - He believes he is successful because he always puts people first.

[23:01] - A customer will never love a product or a company until the team loves the product and the company.

[24:58] - What is the thing related to your business that drives your wife nuts? How do you plan to fix it? - “Even when I’m there I’m technically not there sometimes.”

[27:48] - There are moments when the business requires your full attention and you forget about basic needs like sleeping, eating, etc.

[28:53] - The importance of setting the right expectations with your spouse.

[29:34] - Blocking calendar slots for time with your children can be very helpful.

3 Key Points

Combining work and family requires conscious efforts such as setting clear boundaries between the two, delegating more at work, learning to say “no”, finding ways to spend quality time with the family.

Having a kid makes you a better entrepreneur because it gives you a new perspective.

Setting clear expectations with your spouse is crucial to balance between home and work.

Resources Mentioned

Awesome Motive - The team creating Syed’s software solutions

OptinMonster - Lead generation software offering easy A/B testing

WPBeginner - WordPress beginners guide

List25 - Blog on interesting and intriguing facts

Soliloquy - Responsive WordPress slider plugin

Envira Gallery - WordPress gallery plugin

WPForms - Drag & drop WordPress form builder

MonsterInsights - WordPress Google Analytics plugin

Floating Social Bar - WordPress plugin adding a horizontal floating share bar to posts

Insert Headers and Footers - WordPress plugin for headers and footers

Insert Post Ads - Ads plugin

Calendly - Meeting scheduling tool

MaxCDN - Content delivery network founded by David Henzel

Pitchbox - Influencer outreach and content marketing platform

Follow Syed Balkhi

https://www.linkedin.com/in/syedbalkhi/

https://www.facebook.com/syedmbalkhi

https://twitter.com/syedbalkhi

https://www.instagram.com/syedbalkhi/

https://plus.google.com/+SyedBalkhi

Follow David Henzel

https://www.davidhenzel.com/

https://www.facebook.com/david.henzel

https://twitter.com/davidhenzel

https://www.youtube.com/davidhenzel

https://www.instagram.com/davidhenzel/

https://plus.google.com/+DavidHenzel

Learn more about the Managing Happiness Course

https://www.managinghappiness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Managing-Happiness-695467660602905/

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/22329666/