In January 2019, I sat in my office, which at the time was my bedroom, opened my laptop, and began my life as the founder of Trend Management. Life as an entrepreneur had officially started. I already had some insights on what life would look like since my wife, Dede, better known to some of you as “Dress Up Buttercup,” has been running her own business (with some help from her photographer, aka me), since the end of 2015.
I was excited, but anxious. I wanted to ensure that everyone on our roster of talent at Trend Management felt like they were a part of a family. In order for that to happen effectively, that meant I needed to invest a lot of time to make sure that would be the case. I believe this, along with a lot of other personal offerings, separates Trend Management from every other influencer management company.
Later that year, we launched Trend Social, to help brands navigate the social media world. Our roster of talent have such a unique audience, and have worked very diligently to prioritize that audience. Trend Social guides brands on how to best work with those influencers. This benefits the brand, but better yet, benefits our roster of talent. Tailoring opportunities that are organic to them, eliminating all the back and forth.
Fast forward to today, Trend finds itself as one of the fastest growing influencer management companies in the country. At the same time, it feels like my family is growing just as fast. With a toddler and an infant at home, things just don’t stop, as I’m sure you can attest to if you’re also a parent.
Two under two is difficult — fun, but difficult. The fact that my wife and I are both entrepreneurs and growing our own business adds a whole other dimension to our family life. A lot of people ask me, “What’s it like working with your wife?” and the answer is- even though she is represented by Trend Management, we don’t necessarily work together in the traditional sense. This probably helps things as we’re both incredibly busy in our own lanes, working to grow what we’ve built- both in our businesses and at home together. That said, here are some things that have helped me prioritize my family.
First, share your calendar with your partner. Transparency in our relationship has been critical for us. This allows us to schedule time with each other — whether it’s date nights, doctors appointments, or even small chores around the house. Time is precious, both with family and in business and that’s why Dede and I schedule everything. We can walk through our week together and make time for our family to be together.
Second, we put our phones away during family time. Our lives have been engulfed by our phones, and we both know that if our phones are even near us, it will somehow distract us. Our kids will only be this age once, and we want to cherish these moments and try to avoid unnecessary distractions if we can.
Third, leave work at work. If it were up to me, I could talk about Trend all day, but I know that Dede and the kids just want to hang out with me. My wife wants me to talk to her about her day, my daughter Rosie just wants me to chase her around and tickle her all evening before bed, and my son Jet, well right now he just wants food and a clean diaper, but soon I’ll be chasing him too, and I want to enjoy every minute I have with them.
One thing I’ve learned is that this will always be a work in progress. Some days, it’s hard to leave work at work, or to put my phone away. I remind myself that I need to make time with my family a priority.
I love that Dede and my businesses are both in bloom — I think Dede and I both push each other to be the best that we can be both independently and as parents and partners. Keeping an ongoing conversation with one another allows us to do that and staying organized as possible lets us achieve our goals together.
