One year ago today, I woke up thinking it would be a normal Tuesday. By the early afternoon, I had witnessed the most impressive human accomplishment I’ve ever seen: Meghan, my wife, gave birth to our son, JB.
He joined us exactly one year after I quit a perfectly good full-time job to build Rooster High as a content marketing agency. The flexibility of working for myself meant that the childcare solution was a rather obvious choice: neither Meghan nor I worked in a high-comp for-profit sector, so paying four-figures per month was out of the question; she made more than I did at my previous job, by a healthy margin; and we don’t have any family available to assist.
So, we decided that I would be a full-time dad and build Rooster High in the margins.
I’ve learned a thousand business lessons and ten thousand personal ones since we found out JB was on the way. But I don’t have any interest in waxing poetic on “what the birth of my son taught me about B2B sales.”
First off, it didn’t teach me squat about B2B sales. It was childbirth.
Second off, I despise framing personal experiences in a way that suggests their chief purpose profitability.
When I started Rooster High, the goal was to create something that would serve clients and our life, and it’s not something I could accomplish apart from the variety of blessings God direct and poured out through the process.
While the workload in creating my own video content marketing agency is multiplicatively larger than any previous job I had on marketing teams, my flexibility with my time is immense. That flexibility means I can be a full-time dad, serve at our church, help friends in need, and generally mold my schedule to serve the purposes Meghan and I have set for our lives.
I never bought into the USA traditionalist bit that a husband should make more money than his wife. That was always a twisted, insecure, eisegesis-ridden reading of the Biblical standards for marriage. Maybe I will make more than Meghan with the business one day.
But the aforementioned flexibility has allowed me vastly more ability to serve, love, and lead my family. I’m not at the service of a 9-to-5 job and gone for at least 45 hours a week. I’m home. We have regular Bible study. We pray together. We walk to the grocery store a few times per week. I’m present and intentional.
There’s a false dichotomy I hope my story helps undermine: that prioritizing a strong family life can’t mean you have a successful business.
Now, it’s true that because of my priorities, I’m spending less time on the business than I would otherwise, and yes that means I would accomplish more if I worked 40+ hours per week.
But the implicit challenge in wanting to be excellent in all of these places is this: because I work fewer hours on the business, every hour must be highly effective. Every task needs to have a designated place in a larger, well-constructed strategy. Scope must be managed so that I am delivering effectively for my clients in this situation.
The call to serve my family creates an awesome challenge to be that much more dynamic and effective in my business hours. I’ll hit revenue milestones slower than I would otherwise. Granted.
But if I keep improving my service to my clients, keep building trust with results and communication, all while prioritizing the milestones that matter much more – like a certain young man’s first birthday – then maybe I can count the whole thing a success, if I remain true to it.
Thanks for reading this far. A final note. If you’re encouraged or intrigued by any of the above, please note that many have led the conversation before me. By and large these people are women business owners who are also parents. I’ll list a few here that are worth your time to follow (some are my clients, some are in my network).