The Magneti Dads on Balancing Work and Family

Happy Father’s Day! We have four “Mag-Daddys” on the team, and today, we want to recognize them for being incredible fathers and marketers!

We know having two full-time jobs is not easy. Let’s hear from the Magneti dads about how they balance their work, home and personal lives:

Ben Robb

What does work-life balance mean to you?

I think of it more like this: how am I spending my energy. If I’m spending it on something worthwhile, whether it’s for work or something personal, then I’m happy. Sometimes doing one gives me energy for the other. 🙂

In practical terms, I do try to be home for dinner every day at 6, and I do stay unplugged from my phone, laptop, etc. from then until about 8:30—that’s family time.

What are your goals for your work-life balance?

Spend more energy on the things I’m best positioned to make excellent and beautiful and less on those I’m not.

What are some of your favorite things to do outside of work?

I love cooking with Bre, contentious discussions, writing, reading, running, fishing, camping, live music, and a good beer. We can also bike as a family now, which is fun after work – Jude can keep up with us when one of us has the girls in the carriage. I meet with a group to discuss philosophy or current issues through a philosophical lens once a month. I love exercise, especially pushing myself in the mountains. It’s the only time I can turn my brain off.

How does Magneti help you maintain your work-life balance?

The flexible schedule. We’re growing fast, which brings challenges, but we’re able to take time for ourselves to recharge, whether that’s leaving early on a Friday, taking a mental health day or scheduling a fishing day with a client.

What are some of your favorite things about your work?

Anything creative / strategic. I enjoy engaging deeply with clients and helping them understand their audience in new ways. Our little research team is the best in the business. I love presenting their findings and translating those findings into creative work that fuels great marketing.

Tell me about a time recently when you enjoyed something with your family or friends.

Bre and I just went to Mexico for a week. We were two hours south of Puerto Vallarta on a little eco-reserve—in a rustic palapa in the jungle. It was a 45-minute hike to the nearest town. No Wi-Fi—yay! We ate fresh fish every day, snorkeled, kayaked, spent time on the beach and read.

I also just finished writing a screenplay with two colleagues. We have a director on board, and we’re shopping it now. It’s based on the diaries of Franz Schmidt, a 16th-17th century executioner of Nuremberg. He belonged to an “untouchable” social class because of his work (his kids had no marriage prospects and were barred from the honorable trades) but was in the top five percent of income earners in one of the wealthiest city-states in the world. Our story focuses on the kids. Stay tuned!

 

Jesse Marble

What does work-life balance mean to you?

The idea of work-life and home-life being completely separate doesn’t resonate with my experience – it is rather a swirling, flexible negotiation of how I can be present with both my biological family and my work family.

I work from home some days, which gives me the opportunity to pop my head out of my office and be with my kids for lunch and the little moments, and that’s special. We built Magneti with flexibility in the mix. Team members can go to their kid’s soccer game or a doctor’s appointment – the trust is there that we will finish the work no matter our schedules.

I received some advice recently that really helped me. Right now, I am raising two families – work and biological – and those require a lot of work and focus. I have had to say no to a lot of other things because I want to make sure that these get most of my attention, and I am learning that that’s okay.

How do you bring your work and family lives together?

When I don’t have meetings scheduled, I let my kids work with me in my home office or coffee shops so they can see what my job is like and be aware of what I’m doing during the hours when I’m not home. I also tell my family about my work teammates – I want them to know the names of the people I spent my time with. My kids now ask about my team all the time. On the other side, I share interesting stories about my kids with my teammates so they can get to know them.

What are your goals for your work-life balance?

I want to build a healthy family and a healthy Magneti. I want to make sure that my kids understand what it means to do something you enjoy and work hard for not only yourself but for other people.

I want my teammates to see that you can have a family and work at Magneti at the same time. I will take my daughter on a field trip and stay up late that night to work – a tradeoff that is welcome at the company. We are not in a career field where you have to focus on your job exclusively from 8-5. We’re also not in a career field where if you want to have a family, you have to quit your job. You can have both. That’s what I strive to do – be a dad and have quality time with my kids and be a present, competent leader at the same time.

What are some of your favorite things to do outside of work?

I really love adventuring with my kids – hiking, traveling, or even running errands around town. Quality time with my kids is really important to me – they are so young and will only be for a certain amount of time. It feels like it is going really fast, so getting to do stuff with them is a big deal for me.

Tell me about a time recently that you enjoyed with your family or friends.

For Memorial Day, we had a wonderful, relaxing day as a family. We went to the neighborhood pool, which was FREEZING but the kids still loved it. We went to the neighborhood BBQ, and then over to my sister’s house. It was a quality weekend spending quality time with quality people.

 

Adam Williams

What does work-life balance mean to you?

I thought for a long time that this was working less and playing more, but that’s not how I’ve come to see it. You can have a really good integration between work and home life, and when you own a business, you have to. Work is all consuming – so many people depend on you, but the key component here is emotional balance.

The biggest challenge for me has been coming home after a long day where we had variety of issues and not wanting to talk about how my day was. Inevitably, living in that vacuum, I will be emotionally unavailable for my family. I am working on this – after the work day, I will get in my car and do one of two things – 1) solve a problem that has been weighing on me all day before I get home or 2) if there isn’t a problem that requires action, try to cleanse my mind of the workday by putting on a podcast. I try to recharge before I get home so my mind isn’t racing when I’m with my family. We have a quote on our wall at home that says “Present Over Perfect.” This is really important to me because I want to be fully engaged when I am at home.

I love the work that we do at the Magneti and the people that I get to do it with. There is a level of trust and care around our work and around each other. Everyone is so dedicated, but we work hard to proactively think about how our teammates are being emotionally fed and allow them to do the things outside of Magneti that they want to do.

What are your goals for your work-life balance?

The nature of my role means that in some weeks, I will have nothing to do, and then the next week, be the busiest person you will ever meet. Maintaining my schedule is difficult, but having the perfect balance of work on a weekly basis isn’t feasible. During the crazy weeks, I do my best to balance my workload, and in the slow times, be proactive so I am not overwhelmed when the next wave hits.

I also want to be more emotionally available. During these busy times, I wake up earlier to have some alone time. If I can be invested in time for just me, I can have the emotional space to give my time to others during the day, and that is super important to me.

What are some of your favorite things to do outside of work?

I love to fly fish, float and ski, but at the top of that list is family time. I love our family bike rides in the afternoon around the park.

Tell me about a time recently when you enjoyed something with your family or friends.

This past weekend for my birthday, we floated the Arkansas river as a family with some close friends and it was a blast. We didn’t have an agenda – no place to be, no timeline – it was a weekend of being present with my people.

 

Ray Cameron

What does work-life balance mean to you?

For me, it means having a clear separation from work so when I’m home with my family, I’m fully present. It also means being intentional about doing things that I love that are not work related. It is a difficult balance to maintain, but it’s worth the effort.

When I am home, it is easy to work, but I am intentional about closing my laptop and putting it to the side. I try to have a limit on how many late nights I am working – I want to have dedicated time with my family. We like to all workout, go out to dinner, watch movies and sporting events and spend quality time together. I try to get an introspective start to the day by journaling or reading, and spend the last part of my day with my family. These times provide a nice cushion between business and sleep.

I try to bring my work and family lives together – I want my family to see my work and meet the people I work with and how I spend my days, and vice versa!

What are your goals for your work-life balance?

I want to love my work and love my life outside of work, and its going well!

My favorite part about my job is the people – clients or team members. I like being a part of peoples’ successes and witnessing their growth, whether that is helping a client’s business grow or being a part of a team members growth in their role.

It took me a long time to figure out how to not be consumed by work. Work can be stressful, and it’s hard to put that aside. But, it also feels good to work really hard and put a lot of effort into the day, and then be able to put that behind and go climb a mountain, go for a run in the park, celebrate somebody’s birthday or go for a long drive and be fully present in those moments.

What makes Magneti unique as a workplace regarding work-life balance?

There is a common value in the people we work with – family is a priority. No one at Magneti would ever ask you to put work before family. I also feel encouraged to take time off to do the things I love. Our work is very demanding and there is a lot expected of people at Magneti, but it is important that we disconnect and take breaks sometimes.

What are some of your favorite things to do outside of work?

I like to hike, spend time with my family, read and go on long drives with my wife. I also have a new hobby of tying flies for fly fishing!

Tell me about a time recently when you enjoyed something with your family.

Last night I watched a movie with the kids and Amy. Earlier in the day, my daughter said, “Can we watch a movie as a family?” She doesn’t live with us but wanted to come over and hang out, which was pretty cool.

My oldest son lives in Oregon, and recently, Katie and Jacob road tripped with us to visit him. We camped along the way and it felt like old times.

 

We are proud to support the dads on our team in their work and home lives! Thank you for all you do for your families and Magneti. #Mag-Daddys