Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to Bounce Forward with me, tiffl.
Speaker 1: I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: in which I'm recording this podcast, the Wardari people of
Speaker 1: the Cooler Nation. I pay my respects to elders past
Speaker 1: and present. Today I have Genevieve Day joining me on
Speaker 1: the podcast. She founded Day Management, one of Australia's first
Speaker 1: digital talent management agencies, in twenty fifteen. She has been
Speaker 1: recognized for her work by the Australian Financial Review Fast
Speaker 1: one hundred and she was named in Forbes thirty Under thirty.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty four, her debut book The Juggle launched,
Speaker 1: interviewing well known founders and business minds on how they
Speaker 1: mix career and family, while sharing her own story as
Speaker 1: both founder and mother. Jen Welcome to Bounce Forward. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited to have you here. Now you're the author
Speaker 1: of The Juggle. I want to ask you, what does
Speaker 1: your life look like juggling your career and your gorgeous
Speaker 1: little son Henry.
Speaker 2: Now, oh my.
Speaker 3: Gosh, it is such a juggle, and I think it's
Speaker 3: something that every working mum and even stay home mum
Speaker 3: can relate to. Basically, at the moment, my son is
Speaker 3: fourteen months old, so is at a beautiful stage where
Speaker 3: he can't communicate, but he loves to try and be independent,
Speaker 3: So that in itself is a fun day to day challenge.
Speaker 2: And I run an.
Speaker 3: Influencer marketing and talent agency call Day Management as well,
Speaker 3: and we have a team of eight employees. We look
Speaker 3: after over fifty talents, so quite a big business in
Speaker 3: that capacity. So we try and you know, smash everything
Speaker 3: into each day and definitely don't do it perfectly.
Speaker 1: Wow, how do you like, what's your childcare situation? Like?
Speaker 2: How do you juggle that? For example? Just the practical
Speaker 2: side of it.
Speaker 3: Yes, And I love talking about this because I think
Speaker 3: from the outside, everyone's day looks so perfect and like,
Speaker 3: how are they doing it all? I have him in
Speaker 3: daycare two days a week, and then we have family
Speaker 3: support two days a week as well, which we're so
Speaker 3: lucky and privileged to have.
Speaker 2: Our parents willing and able to look out.
Speaker 3: And then we on the Fridays, my partner and I
Speaker 3: kind of do a split work day in a Henry Day.
Speaker 2: So basically I have.
Speaker 3: Four days a week of like full support and then
Speaker 3: get three days of beautiful Henry time.
Speaker 1: That is a juggle itself, just juggling the schedule of
Speaker 1: childcare and cares around work, juggling. So there's a juggle
Speaker 1: on top of a juggle, isn't there. It's just so difficult.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to your pregnancy. What was
Speaker 1: your pregnancy like, Yeah.
Speaker 3: We started trying, I guess a couple of months after
Speaker 3: we got married. We always knew wanted to have a family,
Speaker 3: but I've been running this business now for nine and
Speaker 3: a half years, so we knew that it wasn't as
Speaker 3: simple as like putting in your request from.
Speaker 2: That leave and having a baby.
Speaker 3: So we kind of approach it quite pragmatically, thinking, all right,
Speaker 3: so if I'm going to be pregnant, out of the game, not,
Speaker 3: as you know, able to do as many things because
Speaker 3: I have a baby. So we actually employed a general
Speaker 3: manager in the business and kind of tried to time
Speaker 3: everything around the pregnancy, which you know is also really
Speaker 3: hard to time when you're going to fall pregnant. But
Speaker 3: during that process, we were kind of putting these steps
Speaker 3: in place to have support and help with the business.
Speaker 3: And I also just felt this like overwhelming fear that
Speaker 3: this impending baby is going to get in the way
Speaker 3: of all my career ambitions and everything I've been working
Speaker 3: so hard for was going to you know, come to
Speaker 3: a halt. So well, the pregnancy itself was lucky to
Speaker 3: be straightforward and not too many complications. I kind of
Speaker 3: felt like I had this big ticking clock of the
Speaker 3: nine months of like, I going to get everything done
Speaker 3: before this baby gets here, because who knows what's going
Speaker 3: to happen with my career.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really hard, and I felt that myself. When
Speaker 1: I was pregnant with my first Arnold. I was running
Speaker 1: a online fitness business, and you know, I had staff
Speaker 1: relying on me, and I thought and plus I do
Speaker 1: all the fitness videos myself, and I had a big,
Speaker 1: horrendous pregnancy, so I was like, oh, how am I
Speaker 1: going to get back into work? And I remember sending
Speaker 1: emails from the hospital after I had Arnold, you know,
Speaker 1: I was working from the hospital bed. And I regret that,
Speaker 1: and I didn't do it with my second. Did you
Speaker 1: take maternity leave?
Speaker 3: It's so interesting that you say that you regret that
Speaker 3: as well, because I was the same I even they
Speaker 3: had the best laid plans and had all this like
Speaker 3: extra hands on the business and support. We had some
Speaker 3: things pop up with work while I was doing like
Speaker 3: a contract negotiation, and I've given birth twelve hours beforehand,
Speaker 3: and my birth was a little bit prickly. I actually
Speaker 3: hemorrhaged and lost almost two leads of blood and like,
Speaker 3: so I wasn't in the best situation to be emailing
Speaker 3: about like a contract dispute.
Speaker 2: But that was kind of my reality.
Speaker 3: And a lot of people that I interview in the
Speaker 3: books are the exact same thing that you just said,
Speaker 3: that they took no time off. They went straight back
Speaker 3: into it out of a fear of necessity or that
Speaker 3: scarcity mindset that you know, other people will get opportunities
Speaker 3: over us if we don't say yes to everything and
Speaker 3: be available. And I think that's something that I also
Speaker 3: really regret, and I would definitely do that differently.
Speaker 1: What have you learnt from being a working mum now? Like,
Speaker 1: what are the biggest lessons and takeaways?
Speaker 2: That's such a great question.
Speaker 3: I think perspective is such a beautiful gift, isn't it.
Speaker 3: The second that you have kids, you're like, Okay, life
Speaker 3: isn't just about me, And that's brilliant. And I feel
Speaker 3: like pre kids, you're able to be quite selfish and
Speaker 3: you just think about your own schedule and what you
Speaker 3: want to do, and now it's not about us at all.
Speaker 2: It's all about the baby.
Speaker 3: And it's kind of been like a beautiful shifted perspective.
Speaker 3: Especially in my work life. Things obviously are important, but
Speaker 3: you walk in the front door and you have to
Speaker 3: leave that all behind because I'm like, I can't be
Speaker 3: stressing about this. I have a fourteen month old demanding
Speaker 3: five week bix right now.
Speaker 1: Yes, can you switch off?
Speaker 2: I struggle.
Speaker 1: I only struggle, like I've got work group WhatsApps and
Speaker 1: they go off constantly twenty four to seven, because on line,
Speaker 1: as you know, never sleeps, yeah, and I find myself
Speaker 1: like checking it in between, like getting a meal, getting
Speaker 1: in a snack, like putting her down. My youngest is too.
Speaker 1: I don't know, can you switch off?
Speaker 2: Do you struggle with that as well? One hundred percent.
Speaker 3: It's so tricky being in this online world because you're
Speaker 3: always available, and you know, campaigns go live at eight
Speaker 3: pm at night and someone's on set filming and you
Speaker 3: have to be contactable. So I'm actually really bad at
Speaker 3: that too, and I think I catch myself in those
Speaker 3: moments where I'm like playing with the Fisher Price farm,
Speaker 3: but I'm checking my phone at the same time, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, that's the cow, says Mood. I'm actually
Speaker 3: emailing about something at the side. So I would like
Speaker 3: to be a more present parent with that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: But it's really really hard.
Speaker 2: It's really hard.
Speaker 1: Do you have any tips for like balancing that side
Speaker 1: of things work and your beautiful child? Like, how do
Speaker 1: you do that? Do you put your phone in a
Speaker 1: drawer and just go, I'm not looking at it, you
Speaker 1: know an hours?
Speaker 2: I should do that.
Speaker 3: I feel like I should really throw my phone out
Speaker 3: of the windows sometimes. But yeah, I think I almost
Speaker 3: do the reverse where I try and run my personal
Speaker 3: life like a business itself, and that in a way
Speaker 3: is allowing me more balance because I get to then
Speaker 3: structure my weeks and even if it's personal time like
Speaker 3: booking in something for me like a polates class, or
Speaker 3: booking in time with my husband and everything like that,
Speaker 3: if it's scheduled the way that my work life is scheduled,
Speaker 3: I'll actually.
Speaker 2: Stick to it. And then that way I can kind.
Speaker 3: Of get that like three sixty view of the week
Speaker 3: and think is this balance or have I chipped too
Speaker 3: far to work? Or have I not done enough to
Speaker 3: tick off my career goals this week? So it's definitely
Speaker 3: not perfect. But I find if you run your home
Speaker 3: life like a business and you know, outsource what you
Speaker 3: can and see where you can put your energy in
Speaker 3: the most valuable places, that's really helped me.
Speaker 1: That's really good advice. That's really good advice. Yeah, outsourcing,
Speaker 1: big fan of it. What what are some of the
Speaker 1: things that you've outsourced that you think, Oh, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a bit weird. Like I outsource indoor plants, Like
Speaker 1: got a plant lady to come over and love that
Speaker 1: put plants all around my house. So I just failed
Speaker 1: it like more oxygen and just it looked beautiful. But
Speaker 1: that's probably the weirdest thing I've ever outsourced.
Speaker 2: Like what about you? What what do your outsource?
Speaker 3: Definitely, food for us was a big one, especially starting
Speaker 3: solid and I was reading all the books and I
Speaker 3: wanted to be like I really wanted to be that
Speaker 3: mum who was doing the organic bone broth for seven
Speaker 3: hours on the stovetop, but I was like, I didn't.
Speaker 2: Have the time talk to me about it. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 2: and I love it and I love all like the
Speaker 2: science behind it.
Speaker 3: So we just bought like the La Puree packs so
Speaker 3: they have all that in there, and it was amazing.
Speaker 3: And so things like that where I can make life
Speaker 3: easier but not feel guilty that I'm like shortcutting you know,
Speaker 3: nutrition and anything else like that too.
Speaker 2: It's massive.
Speaker 3: And then also we got a cleaner and like that's
Speaker 3: a luxury again and a privilege.
Speaker 2: But I'm like, I don't have time at the moment
Speaker 2: to be scrubbing toilets if I have as a waste
Speaker 2: of your energy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I know everyone can do that, but we're
Speaker 3: kind of like, where can we budget and like cut
Speaker 3: and trim to allow that expenditure.
Speaker 2: Yes, to spend more time as a family in quality time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. I love that. So when my
Speaker 1: husband and I when I got pregnant the second time,
Speaker 1: I looked back at like my previous mistakes of like
Speaker 1: not taking any time off and just I rushed back
Speaker 1: to exercise.
Speaker 2: I got a few injuries and blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I said to my husband, ed,
Speaker 1: We're going to do like a mental wellness plan going
Speaker 1: into the next pregnancy, and we're going to know exactly,
Speaker 1: you know, how to prepare for life with a baby,
Speaker 1: what support we need to give each other, what support
Speaker 1: we need to outsource, like all that, And I listed
Speaker 1: everything and then I circulated it to grandparents and friends
Speaker 1: and everyone knew when they were on pickup for Arnold,
Speaker 1: my son is seven, You're at school, and you know,
Speaker 1: it was a bit of a roster.
Speaker 2: You know, what things did you do you talk to.
Speaker 1: Your partner about when you're preparing for the baby and
Speaker 1: your career, and you know what sort of conversations did
Speaker 1: you have with your partner.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the luxury for us is that my
Speaker 3: husband also works in the business now.
Speaker 1: Oh so it is amazing.
Speaker 3: It was so great because it may we're on the
Speaker 3: same page and like building to the same goals. Whether
Speaker 3: previously it's like trying to build two big careers at once,
Speaker 3: and there's like a wrestle then, isn't it. It's like, well,
Speaker 3: I need you home at this time, and he's like,
Speaker 3: but I've got a big meeting as well. So that
Speaker 3: was a really tricky thing before he joined the business
Speaker 3: about two years ago. But we had a lot of
Speaker 3: conversations about rest and about time off, and I stupidly
Speaker 3: worked until I was thirty nine weeks pregnant.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: And I also like, I just looked so ridiculous. It's
Speaker 3: quite comical looking back. And it's funny because I got
Speaker 3: this phone call in my pregnancy is saying do you
Speaker 3: want to come and host this industry TV show? And
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, dream opportunity, Like, of course I'd
Speaker 3: love to do that. They said, great with film in September,
Speaker 3: and I said, oh, my due date is September ten,
Speaker 3: but yeah, I'll do it on the first of September.
Speaker 3: So like I put myself in those situations where I was,
Speaker 3: you know, saying to my husband, we have to rest,
Speaker 3: we have to put time aside to rest, but then
Speaker 3: telling other people, of course, I'll do this opportunity because
Speaker 3: what if they never asked me again, They've lost my chance.
Speaker 2: And so I really went against my own advice and
Speaker 2: my own planning there, and.
Speaker 3: I probably had about three days of like maternity leave
Speaker 3: before the baby got here, which wasn't enough time. And
Speaker 3: then similar to you, I kind of worked in the
Speaker 3: hospital afterwards as well.
Speaker 2: But I think we.
Speaker 3: Tried to structure a couple like eight weeks of maternity
Speaker 3: lea with the baby, and it.
Speaker 2: Was quite funny.
Speaker 3: I said to my husband, like, I actually just can't
Speaker 3: even talk about work. I need to just be completely
Speaker 3: shut off from it. And that was the rule, because
Speaker 3: I can't do things half half.
Speaker 2: The baby bubble yes, and I really wanted to be
Speaker 2: in it.
Speaker 1: Now, I'm just going to leave my chat with Jen
Speaker 1: there and come back with part two. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for listening to Bounce Forward. I love having your company,
Speaker 1: so please dm me on Instagram at tifhaul Underscore XO
Speaker 1: and let me know what topics you'd love me to cover.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to rate and review me on the podcast
Speaker 1: out speak soon. Happy Days,