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This topic already has me laughing and stressing while I sit here still in Vermont with cream cheese drying on my shirt from a hard goodbye with the kids today. Our family was supposed to be in Portland, where the kids could see our old stomping grounds while we combined a work trip with a family adventure. Something we’ve all become fond of doing together.

Carina hatched the plan to bring the kids out to Portland for the MADE bike show and an offsite with our brand director Mark. When she pitched it, I was like, "Yeah, that sounds great." Because if you're a parent, you know those last few weeks of summer? They're camp-free chaos. Heading back to Portland, where we lived for 10 years and still have friends, meant we could call in some babysitting favors and blend work and life in the best way.

Almost as fast as the trip came together (booked flights less than two weeks ago), it unraveled. Our daughter got sick, and we realized pushing her on a cross-country trip right before the first week of 2nd grade? Not a great idea.

Pulling the plug on the trip feels like the perfect metaphor for our lives as parents and business owners. It's a blend of stress and joy we know all too well.

We started the Founders’ Series because we believe in keeping it real. There’s a tendency in entrepreneurship and parenting alike to showcase only the polished version. The milestones hit, the smiling photos, the neat little wins. But behind all that are the moments of mess, uncertainty, and compromise. And those moments matter just as much. 

The concept of “work-life balance” is often portrayed as a serene scale with everything perfectly in its place and often separated. Clock out at 5pm, slide into family time, sleep, repeat. I don’t love that phrase. Work is life. Look at your waking hours, we work to an alarming degree. So for me, work has to bring joy. It’s part of the life we’re building, not separate from it. Balance, in that sense, isn’t fixed. It’s dynamic. It’s motion. It’s reacting, failing, recalibrating, and adapting to whatever comes your way. That’s where grit grows. And I’d like to think that’s where we build some good character too, as people, as parents, as partners.

If someone asked me what I love most about being a parent and business owner, I'd say: flexibility. But not the kind you’re possibly thinking of, like working remotely or swapping in when the kids are sick. Those are great too but it’s the deeper flexibility. It’s the chance to intentionally align our work with our values as parents.

I’ll be honest, the stress of this ongoing balancing act wears on me. I wish I had a silver bullet solution to share. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the act of balancing is where the meaning lives. In the balancing, you get the moments. And in those moments are the ups and downs where joy, stress, memories and everything else resides. 

We’ve come to see that building a business and building a life aren’t two separate rides. They’re the same ride, one that we try to steer with intention, even if the road gets bumpy.

And wow does it get bumpy. Sometimes work wins when we wish we could be at home. Sometimes we drop everything for our kids when a deadline is looming. The point is, balance is not a destination. It’s a discipline. It’s about setting goals and boundaries that respect both sides of the equation while raising our kids with presence and building something that lasts.

OK, it’s almost 5pm. Cream cheese is still on my shirt. The babysitter’s wrapping up. Time to go play with the kids (and make dinner and do all the things).

-  Robby