Juggling family life

Kirk Pepperdine: I tend to travel in stretches. I'm not home for certain events when they happen. On the flip side, when I am home, I'm there for all of these events.

When my kids were in school, I was often the only father showing up at events. I've missed a few because I was away, but when I was there, it was really no issue for me to go and see whatever school events were happening. I just know that other fathers never got the chance because their jobs never allowed them to do something like that. You're away frequently but when you're around, it's actually advantageous. Plus, sometimes it's fun. You can bring some of the family or the entire family with you.

Going back to JCrete, we don't want to set up another event where you're away from your family. We made it so that families can attend and they do. We get the kids involved and I think a lot of the spouses really enjoy the experience. They're quite surprised by it.

Geertjan Wielenga: Is burnout a risk and how do you deal with it?

Kirk Pepperdine: Is it a risk? Yes. How do you deal with it? If it's happened, go away on vacation. If you recognize that it's happening, at that point you just have to learn how to say no.

We talk about the travel issues at JCrete and we try to do our best to come to some balance with them. When you start mixing in time zones, then it can get really brutal. I had a close to 24-hour trip getting here. Next week, as soon as I get back from here, I'm going to Atlanta. I've immediately taken my calendar and put a big black X through the following week. In other words, I have no intention of going anywhere!

You've just got to look at the schedule and say, "Well, I know I can tolerate that if it's within one or two time zones that are close together." After a certain volume, you just look at it and say, "Okay, I have to black that week out; it's gone."

Then you hopefully will have a supportive employer. When I was working for a company just as a consultant, my employer was very aware of consultant burnout and say, for example, something at home happened, you were out of there and on a plane home, because that's where you needed to be. That was more important to them than the engagement. That employer was absolutely fantastic and I was exceptionally happy working there.

On the other hand, I've seen speakers who have basically almost fallen over on a couple of occasions. I was really disappointed in their employers. In both cases, the people involved were not in a position to make solid decisions for themselves, so someone had to step in and make the hard decision for them, and go to their employer on their behalf.

I think if your employer doesn't support you when you're in that type of situation, then it's probably not a position you want to keep anyway. It's a two-way street: the employer and the employee both have to benefit.

We get this argument about business class seats for frequent fliers because they're so much more expensive for engagements. My position on that is that I fly often enough that when I do long-haul flights, that's how I fly.

An employer should see the entire picture of what you're doing, but as an individual consultant, you don't have someone who's in this umbrella position and looking out for your long-term health. Your clients don't care. They want you to come in and fix their problem. Then you go away, which is really cool.

You also have to, on a personal level, look at this from the long-term aspect and ask, "Okay, if I'm doing these long-haul flights quite frequently, what is that doing to me and what can I do to minimize the effects of these long-haul flights?"

Business class is just one of those things that minimizes the long-term effects of flying from here to there and everywhere. If you fly once a year on vacation, it's not going to matter, but if you're flying long haul, maybe once a month or maybe more frequently, then you need to start worrying about these things. If you experience burnout, then you're no good to anybody. At that point, you really are responsible for yourself if you're an independent.