Sarah Beeny On Juggling

Sarah Beeny might be best known to people in the UK as the presenter of the TV series ‘Property Ladder’ and ‘Property Snakes & Ladders’ but she’s also a successful entrepreneur.

Having launched her own building company and written a handful of books on property developing, she now juggles a broader portfolio including two online businesses. She launched the dating website mysinglefriend.com and more recently she set up a tepilo.com, a website where you can buy and sell your home for free.

Sarah also has four young children; so she got a lot of respect when she appeared at this month’s Social Media ’09 conference along with her baby son.

So Sarah was a great candidate for my Juggle Tapes series; I went to meet her a couple of weeks ago to talk about what drives her business ideas and how she juggles everything. Watch the video below:



*if the video above is not displayed properly, you can watch it on YouTube here

Play Where You Play Best

I got asked a good question in an interview last week about whether ‘juggling’ was for everyone; wasn’t it important that some people remained specialists in one field rather than be good at more than one thing?

Absolutely. I don’t think everyone can become a juggler. Instead it’s about being authentic: about your work life reflecting your multi-dimensional talents. So if your talents are brilliant but singular, don’t fake it and try to become a juggler. Stick to what you are good at, and passionate about. The world needs specialists, whether engineers, scientists, footballers or designers. But don’t be limited by your specialism, look beyond what you currently do to consider what else you are good at. Don’t limit your potential.

So juggling is not about stretching your talents in ways they don’t stretch; it’s about knowing all the stuff you’re good at and focusing on that. Stuff you’re not so good at? Delegate or outsource that.

It’s like Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide Of Saatchi & Saatchi said in my book, 'Juggle!':


‘It all starts with knowing when you are at your best and playing there all the time. I focus on those things I'm good at and try to get world class at them. The stuff I can't do I ask others to handle and choose people who are brilliant at it, significantly better than me at least. None of us is as good as all of us and I make sure that I have a bunch of inspired people around me who are all experts in their fields’. *

Last Friday I was working on the copy for my new website. I was on the 4th draft and was struggling. I knew I needed a fresh pair of eyes to polish and improve it. Sure, I could have spent hours persevering but I knew my limits; I recognised it was time to call in an expert. I ‘phoned my copywriting friend Rich and asked him to get involved.

And that’s what being an effective juggler is about; sure, stretch yourself in loads of directions that reflect your desires and talents. Play where you play best; and bring in experts for those areas where you don’t.

* you can see my video interview with Kevin here

Juggle Tapes on iTunes

'The Juggle Tapes’ is a series of videos featuring people in business that have been successful juggling different disciplines and roles in their working lives. The series explores how entrepreneurs put passion at the heart of what they do, to go beyond a job title to ensure their work identity reflects their personality. The series is now available as a free download at the iTunes music store by following this link http://tinyurl.com/itunesjuggle

The series includes: Martha Lane Fox, Mike Southon, Gary Vaynerchuk and Kevin Roberts.

The ?What If! Jugglers

This morning I hung out with Chris Barez-Brown to film the latest in the series of The Juggle Tapes interviews. Chris is Learning Director of the ?What If! Innovation company, an organisation that helps clients who want to innovate and grow. They’ve got an impressive client list from leading brands to government departments.

Chris juggles multiple projects, brands and timezones at ?What If!. He’s also a writer, speaker and a real evangelist for creative thinking. We had a really good chat about how he juggles his different roles, how he finds time for guitar lessons and play, and how he finds time for creative thinking in such a busy schedule. We also spoke about how he has managed to co-create an organisation that encourages juggling at all levels where staff embrace their plurality and mix up their passions. The interview is being edited and will be up on in a week or so.

Thanks to Chris and Jane at ?What If! and to Clem and Tim for production.

David Sloly On Juggling

This week’s Juggle Tapes interview is with David Sloly. David is Creative Director at the integrated digital marketing agency Mason Zimbler where he creates campaigns for technology brands like Microsoft, Toshiba and Dell. He’s eschewed traditional career development with a CV that has really mixed things up from writing books and DJ’ing to being a radio and TV producer. His work in radio won him a Gold Sony Award and a MOBO award. David is a real evangelist for digital communication and Web 2.0 and he’s also recently added hypnotherapy to his juggling.

I filmed my interview with Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi on a rooftop overlooking the Arc De Triomphe, for this one I was in Bristol on a terrace overlooking Clifton Suspension Bridge.

- In the interview David talks about how having a rich background outside of advertising helped him become a Creative Director.

- Hear how he's applied hypnotherapy to business challenges

- and how he got away with writing a report for work while he was meant to be on his honeymoon!

WATCH IT HERE

Introducing David Sloly

Next week's Juggle Tapes interview (if we can get it edited in time) is with digital guru David Sloly. David is Creative Director and Head of Digital at Mason Zimbler in Bristol and we recorded the video by Clifton Gorge. David's a real evangelist for web 2.0 and has a great mashed-up cv that includes dj'ing, writing books, producing Sony-award winning radio shows, producing TV shows, prototyping a laptop stand and now psychotherapy. Lots to juggle. Watch out for that next week.