"Creating an amazing startup company is valuable and meaningful, but it is only one aspect of a whole life."
- Startup Life, page 90
"Conventional wisdom says that entrepreneurs can’t have work-life balance... We completely reject this notion."- Startup Life, page 7
The unspoken rules of startup life and culture are that you put in 12 or more hours per day, that you are always available by email and never take an unplugged vacation. These are just some of the cliches that come to mind when you think “startup entrepreneur.” Some of these may even apply to jobs outside of the startup community these days. Brad and Amy are quick to point out that this doesn’t have to be the reality. If we’re to really zoom out of the minutiae of daily life, we’ll see that “the actual long-term priority is to have a good life,” not to just have a good business.
This process starts with understanding your true values and priorities. Aside from knowing what these are for your own benefit, it can make navigating and building a relationship easier. Brad and Amy share that striving for the “perfect” relationship isn’t necessarily the end goal. Rather, strive for deep alignment in your values because these are what most fundamentally matter to each person.
"Each of you has an obligation to be brave when it comes to initiating communication and work through issues."- Startup Life, page 8
It is common relationship advice and it holds steadfast in an entrepreneur’s relationship, too. It is the tool that will get two people through a tough spot. It is what will help to deepen the relationship. Communication is everything. Brad and Amy share many examples from their own relationship where good communication has helped them.
Understand the other person’s personality plays an important role in this. For instance, are they an introvert or an extrovert? Are they an optimist or a pessimist? When you understand the perspectives that your partner brings to the table, you can more aptly meet them where they are in the conversation.
"The effort that you put in creates increasing returns."- Startup Life, page 171
All of us lead full lives that are dictated by packed schedules, obligations and commitments. The key in a relationship is to actually make time and make an effort for the other person. As unromantic as it might seem, sometimes we just have to put these times in our calendar in order to make them happen. That’s exactly what Brad and Amy do. They have a few suggestions around opportunities to spend time with one another on a regular basis.
Much of Brad and Amy’s advice and life experience is food for thought for a relationship in any context. Their intentional approach to building a life together is nothing short of inspiring and made me think about how a relationship doesn’t have to be a hap-hazard experiment. It can be deeply meaningful when you take ownership of it and put in a robust effort.
Amy Batchelor is a Managing Director of the Anchor Point Fund, which makes grants to nonprofit organizations in the arts, education, entrepreneurship, conservation and the environment, health and human services, women’s and human rights, international development, capacity building, and progressive public policy. She is a cofounder and partner of Social Venture Partners Boulder County and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Wellesley College. She blogs at http://anchorpoint.blogs.com/ and can be found on Twitter (@abatchelor) and Facebook (amy.batchelor). She is working on two novels, The North Side of Trees and Epicenter, about the 1964 Alaska earthquake. Batchelor graduated from Wellesley College in 1988 with a BA in political philosophy. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, and has homes in Keystone, Colorado, and Homer, Alaska, where she was born. Batchelor travels extensively and has spent time on every continent except Antarctica.
