We are excited to welcome Jeana Goosmann to the show! She is the Founder, CEO, and Managing Partner of the Goosmann Law Firm with four office locations in Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska. In 2021, Jeana won the Enterprising Women of the Year Award for her leadership of the largest Women Owned Law Firm in the Midwest. She is the author of the 2019 Amazon Bestseller Worth It: Business Leaders Ready Execute Deliver and a contributing author to the recently released 2022 Amazon Bestseller, The Science of Getting Rich for Women which aims to create a global economic rise for women around the world.
Join PJS & Co. CPAs’ Co-Founder and Partner, Katina Peters, as she and Jeana discuss how to build a successful business while integrating your life as well, in this episode: Building Your Business Without Sacrificing Family.
What we cover in this episode:
- 05:00 – Business owners and work life “balance”
- 13:51 – Creating a healthy culture in the workplace
- 16:55 – The role of core values in your business
- 20:48 – How to win with goals
Business owners and work life “balance”
The term “balance” when referring to work and life for small business owner is a bit contradictory. While many strive for this elusive goal, it looks different for everyone and often changes through the years. It has been tossed around for years and it is easy to feel like a failure if you haven’t perfected this “balancing act” we see across our culture and posted all over social media.
Jeana has a great take on how she has been able to build her business without sacrificing her family. “So in my book, I talk about my concept that I call the mashup, which to me is different than the work life balance. I think when you hear the word balance, people often think of the scales of justice, right? Like you’ve got your work on one side and you’ve got your life of everything else on the other. And I have found that that is false.”
Jeana continues, “I think there’s a lot more that goes into your life than just your work and then everything else. And I think of it more of a mashup; more of the sense of, you’ve got your professional life, you’ve got your community involvement, you’ve got your family, you’ve got your health. You have a whole bunch of different facets of your life and they all kind of bubble together and as a result of that, it’s a mashup. It’s not just one thing or the other.”
The ability to recognize that as a business owner, it isn’t one or the other, but both at the same time. An example Jeana uses is, “If I have a continuing education seminar and it’s in a lovely place, maybe that’s where my family decides this is gonna be where we’re gonna do family vacation this year. And so I get a little bit of a double dip in that, where I’m at the conference for a couple days, and then I’m with my family for a few days on the back end. And that saves me an extra leg of travel. But you have to have some flexibility into the mindset that it’s not gonna be either or if you’re gonna bring them together and be successful”.
Creating culture in the workplace
Fostering a work environment that isn’t toxic, comes down to the culture you create. Although it isn’t easy, or solely up to you as a business owner, it is worth it! How can small business owners spend time to create a culture that cultivates better balance? Here at PJS & Co. CPAs, as well as at Goosmann Law Firm, a culture of family and business is created and expected so that a better integration can be achieved for the owners, employees, and contractors.
Jeana explains, “I love to talk about culture and I have a concept I talk about in the book, I call ‘the culture jury’, which is a different way of looking at culture. And really what that means is as the business leader, you are constantly on stage and your employees or your team are like your jury.”
Jeana adds, “So you don’t ever really get a break from being in that role and being in the spotlight when you are the business leader. And your team or your jury, they decide what your culture is. You can’t walk in as the leader and say, we are gonna have a positive team based culture, it’s really up to your employees to decide if you are gonna have a positive team based culture. But how do they get to that conclusion and how do those behaviors and beliefs mount up over time.”
As the owner, every action displays your culture and sets the tone for your team. Jeana drives this point home with the following point, “That’s where I think it’s up to you as the leader is to, you know, plant pieces of evidence, with that jury, with your team and really lead the way and show the way that that’s how you want your culture and your organization to be.”
The role of core values in your business
Katina Peters talks about how core values resemble the culture you are trying to create as a business owner. “I know one of the things that we talked about in the past is looking at, you know, core values as determining who you are and creating those core values. And some of that is not necessarily like… oh, this core value sounds good and that core value sounds good; but really looking at who you are as a business owner, as a leadership team, and what makes you successful, and what things really embody what you’re trying to do, what you started trying to do… ”.
Katina and Jeana express how core values are a living document. They can and should change. Embodying different values and visions for your organization is crucial to its success. Core values may change as you progress and grow as a team, business, and individually. This is an important component to making sure you create and keep the work life balance or mash up, you were and are hoping to achieve.
How to win with goals
So how are we able to grow businesses while incorporating family? Establishing meaningful goals can be a main driver in achieving success and keeping your eye on the prize. When it comes to your larger or long-term goals, Jeana expresses, “…know what your big goals are, but then break them down and create some small wins for your person or for your team along the way. I think that helps drive momentum in organizations. When you get some small wins, then you can really kick up your flywheel and get going faster.”
Momentum can be a great tool in working toward goals. So by getting these smaller, quick wins, your team can begin to rack up the wins and gain momentum. It is important to celebrate those achievements as well, so be sure to recognize when your team hits their goals.
Some great books that help incorporate goals into your business and personal life are Traction by Gino Wickman and Jeana Goosmann’s book, Worth It: Business Leaders: Ready. Execute. Deliver. Jeana and Katina both have implemented “rocks” as goals in their business and personal life and have had much success.
Conclusion
How to build a successful business without giving up your personal and family life, doesn’t have a step by step guide. However, there are many practices you can implement in your business to strive for the balance you are wanting and to create an environment and culture in your business that can help fulfill this balance desire. Avoid trying to tackle everything at once and realize there will be a push and pull from all sides of your life, requiring a constant shifting approach.
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