HABITAT SCHOOL WITH THE BEACH PEOPLE

Our new monthly event, Habitat School is about learning how to live, work and play with lessons from the inspiring bunch of entrepreneurs we’re lucky enough to have in the neighbourhood.

Habitat has become home to a pretty amazing collection of humans: designers and chefs, naturopaths and architects, jewellers and personal trainers, the list goes on. We started Habitat School so we could learn from them all.

Kicking things off, we got a lesson on balancing work and life while running a small business with Victoria Beattie, founder of The Beach People.

But this was no ordinary workshop, because while all attendees scored a free gift thanks to The Beach People, plus a storewide discount on the night, the highlight for everyone was Victoria’s hilarious and candid talk.

Covering her entire career, from how she started The Beach People with her sister (with no money, from a bedroom) to managing explosive growth when their hero product went viral (turns out round towels were a good idea) to the constant juggle of her real family with her work family, Victoria wasn’t just open and honest, she also had the room in stitches for most of the evening.

While she shared too many tips to recall here, Victoria’s secret (pardon the pun) to balancing work and life while running a small business came down to three basic rules…

• Turning her phone off at 4pm each day and not switching it back on again until the next morning.

• Never talking business with her sister (and business partner) when they’re not at work.

• Making sure she schedules two holidays each year, otherwise she’d never take a break and would eventually burnout.

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So, there you have it. The first class of Habitat School in the bank! The bell’s rung, so get outside and live a balanced life until we’re ready to call our next lesson, which is with Emma Siebold from Bende.

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Thanks to Victoria for sharing her wisdom and The Beach People team for keeping their beautiful store open late for everyone.