table of funtents

1. 👋🏼 it’s me, hi

2. ⚽️ team work-life balance or blend?

3. 🚪 parting words

👋🏼 it’s me, hi

HAPPY WEDNESDAY, MISFITS ✌🏼

HOW ARE WE AT THE END OF AUGUST??? I’m sure 2025 only started 30 minutes ago (where does the time go!?!).

Luckily we’ll shortly jump into spooky season, so you’ll hear no complaints from me.

I’m keeping “it’s me, hi” short this week to make space for exciting developments below! Let’s drive straiiiight in.

ICYMI: last episode was all about how I’d build keshty differently while still in employment, knowing all I know now. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Y’all know I love data, and with your detailed poll and email responses to each episode, I’ve been collecting, compiling and connecting 😈 

Here are the most common questions y’all have shared:

1. Where do I start? Everything from transitioning from employment to your own biz to all the set up admin and costs

2. What’s my thing? From defining what you can offer the world to putting yourself out to said same world without dying of cringe

3. How the f* do I even manage this? Knowing the biz ops and personal boundaries it takes to manage multiple clients and yourself

4. How do I know it’s working? Get loyal, easy to work with clients to repeatedly pay you, refer you and shout out about you in rooms you’re not in

I hadn’t quite realised at the time, but I had ALL the same worries and no one to share them with. It’s hugely why I created this newsletter - to offer myself space to reflect, share what I’m learning and have a sense of community alongside.

Still, I think there’s a way to be even more accessible, share more openly and remove blockers more intentionally for you.

And that’s exactly what I’ve been working on in the last few months.

Stay tuned as I share more next episode 🫶🏼

⚽️ team work-life balance or blend?

You’ve heard of work-life balance, but what’s this jazzy, new term “work-life blend” all about? (Can you tell holiday season is coming to an end and I felt like this topic was well-timed? Tehehe).

I’ve got feelings on this debate, y’all. It’s been stirring the pot in the world of work, and - tbh - we’re not much better at it within our own businesses.

☕️ Today, I’ll spill the tea so you can decide:

Do you want your business to give you balance, blend or both?

I’ll then offer you ways I’ve built balance and blend into keshty, with practical tips you can use to test the same.

Either way, I want this to steer your read throughout:

There’s no point leaving a job that bleeds you dry and burns you out in pursuit of building your own biz - then replicating the exact. same. thing. 

1. work-life balance vs. work-life blend

No doubt we’ve got a hot debate on our hands, but let’s start by differentiating the two:

2. my two cents

problem 1: the system 

Naturally, I see extremes in both work-life balance and work-life blend. You’re either limited to switching between 2 modes only (on and off), or you’re totally enmeshed. There’s no in between.

My bigger issue, however, is the way in which work-life blend came about: during COVID, when we know people really struggled to separate work and life.

I remember sitting in a meeting with leaders at my previous job being told “work-life blend [was] the future” and will “enable us to do our best work at our best times.”

I’m sure the message was intended well, but they failed to put guardrails around “best work at best times.” Meaning you had 500 people in different time zones operating at their best time, then frustrated your best time wasn’t the same.

I wasn’t prepared to be expected “on” all the time: colleagues sending messages at 3 am, peers throwing meetings in for 7 am and leaders attempting to phone me at 10 pm.

It was a mess. It’s still a mess. Years on from lockdown, I’m still not sure we’ve nailed this across the system.

problem 2: us

Now that we’ve covered off the system, let’s take an honest look inward.

Problem 2 is that we leave work to go build our own thing, then bring the same BS and bad habits in house.

When I started building keshty, I joined a number of founder groups for the community element. I learned quite quickly that we are literally the problem.

My fellow founder friends:

• Still glorify the grind to death

• Post pics at WeWork on evenings and weekends

• Say they haven’t taken a day off since starting the biz

• Work 16 hour days, plus weekends, plus bank holidays

• Take work with them on time off because “founder life”

Look, folks: I’m not one to judge. If this way of life gets you going, offers purpose and makes you happy, then do you.

Personally, I didn’t leave full-time employment, exhausted and burnt out, to then start an equally unhealthy venture where the only individual I need to answer to is myself. Not giving myself time off? As if.

I didn’t think it’s heroic, cool or glamorous to run myself into the ground. Nor is it what I (or you!) deserve.

3. how to balance and blend

Leaving work to start your own thing requires months of unlearning and relearning. I tried a number of tactics to balance and blend that absolutely drained me, while others drove me forward in leaps.

Just remember: you know yourself and what works best for you.

These tips may not all resonate, and that’s okay. Make tweaks that work for you, give some a try and let me know what comes of it!

times

A few questions to ask yourself:

• What time do I like to wake up?

• What time(s) do I do my best work?

• What time(s) would I most enjoy a meeting?

• What time(s) do I want to do XYZ personal hobby / activity?

These answers are important - in the absence of them, you end up working yourself around other people’s availability and preferences. 

Obviously there are exceptions - an important client meeting or a workshop at a set time. But outside that, why shouldn’t every call, coffee chat, catch up or stretch of focused work happen around you?

tasks

Tasks are, in my opinion, the slipperiest slope between work and life.

Think of the emails we reply to on holiday, or the person answering Slack messages at dinner with their spouse.

Remember: there will always, always be more to do.

The good news is blending tasks into life doesn’t have to be toxic, but the bad news is it depends entirely on you to set these parameters.

Ask yourself:

• What work tasks could I pair up with a life activity without burdening myself?

• What work tasks should I blanket ban from personal activities?

places

I LOVED (and still love) the Sims growing up. They come to mind whenever I think about how I’ve balanced and blended work-life into places.

Sims are hilarious - they can simply enter a room and if it’s not decorated to their liking, their entire attitude will change. If there’s a used plate on a nearby table, they’ll get upset. If they smell coffee, their mood will brighten up.

Sims are based on humans, after all. Which begs the final question to ask yourself:

What place(s) immediately change how you feel about work?

Some of us feel heaps of energy going to the office. For others, it’s the local gym’s work area because we’re incentivised to exercise after. Either way, we can choose places to balance or blend our work so it feels more manageable, yet natural.

Once you’ve named a few places, tie it all together by linking back to how you spend your time and complete your tasks.

🚪 parting words

Take one thing away with ya, misfits: you don’t have to build a business that sucks the life out of you.

We can take the good of both work-life balance and blend to build something that serves and energises us. You’ll know best how that looks for you.

Otherwise, that’s a wrap on today’s episode 🫶🏼

As always, I’m only a message away for thoughts, questions and topic ideas. I read and sincerely appreciate every single poll / email response! Please keep them coming.

Before you go, could you let a girl know what you thought of this issue with the pulse check below? Good intent feedback is always welcome ⬇️

xo, Neds