Most people nowadays have far more of a battle with work-life balance than past generations have and I have to be honest, making the switch from a flexible and comfortable corporate organisation that gave me a decent work-life balance, to then going into the world of agency life…with a wife and 2 kids at home, losing this work-life balance and comfort blanket was by-far my biggest concern!
So now, 3 months into agency life, has the comfort blanket been firmly removed? Am I having to abandon my kids to live the life of a delinquent hipster? Am I now a nocturnal worker that over indulges in boozy, wining and dining?…
…to answer that simply, no, not at all. [End of blog].
In all seriousness, all the concerns I had around leaving my comfort blanket and the affect it would have on my family were quashed within the first month. I’ve not had to completely alter my lifestyle to suddenly become a trendy agency type, in fact, little to nothing has changed in my personal life.
And from a work-life perspective?! There’s actually a surprising amount of elements from my life in the corporate world that have prepared me very well for agency life. Things like process…yes, it’s often over-engineered and an immensely dull subject…but understanding the positives and reasons for process is critical. Everywhere we work we will encounter process, whether we like it or not. We’re all humans and no matter who you are there will be a systematical element of your life that you can’t go without. Taking the best of corporate process, breaking it down to it’s simplest level and making it work for a company isn’t something I’ve really been involved in before, but I’m increasingly involved in now to help Affari grow.
Structure and rigour, another element of the corporate world…my personal role in agency land means working whilst on the road, on the train, at home, in the office, in customers’ offices, in cafe’s…it may sound glamorous but if you generally don’t have a base it can often be hard to get focussed on the task in hand. However, having had the work-ethic of a corporate world drummed into me I find that I can switch off to the world around me to get buried into what needs to be done at the drop of a hat, much to the frustration of my wife (thank you corporate’s).
The final lesson I’ve taken to agency-land is the art of being like the little-known character from He-Man called Man-E-Faces. In case you couldn’t tell he has many faces…must have took them all night to think of that one! Essentially, it’s about putting on the right face for the right people and situations. Unfortunately it sometimes doesn’t come quite as easily as it does for Man-E-Faces, maybe I should invest in one of the dashing helmets he has.
There are obviously differences that I’ve found between the two worlds but there are also more overlaps than many people would expect. Yes, agencies tend to be more casual, quicker to react and more flexible, but by the same token the risk of an agency losing business can bring more tension than it could ever bring to a large corporate organisation.
Personally, I think if I would have come into agency life earlier in my career I probably wouldn’t have settled as quickly as I have and enjoyed it as much as I am. My time with corporates has given me everything I could need to progress on the agency side.
So after 3 months plus, do I regret the move to the dark, dark world of agency life? Not at all! It’s been a great move and the timing couldn’t have been better. It’s given me a new challenge and allowing me to get out and meet new people all the time.
