The Balance of Family and Success

with guest Jeff Dudan #MakingBank S5E14

To almost everyone in business and beyond, prioritizing family and work has been a struggle that makes it seem like there isn’t enough time in the day. When you’re dedicated to what you do and you’re passionate about the people you love, your days are always busy with trying to juggle each aspect of your life. And of course, you’re never going to be perfect in trying to find this balance – you’re only human.  

However, Jeff Dudan, founder of the national restoration franchise Advantaclean, talks about how he integrated his family and business life together and how he stays successful on this episode of Making Bank. While running a company franchise, Jeff is present family member along with being the coach of his kids’ sports team.  

Jeff talks about the significance of the principles that you place in your lifestyle. With his coaching and business entrepreneurship experiences, he discusses important aspects for successful balance and gives his advance for the three most important characteristics he believes that allows success.  

Success in a Balanced Environment 

There is a balance that you’ve got to maintain when you’re going after an opportunity, and that falls on the risk and the reward. You’ve got to be up for the challenge, letting that challenge change you and allow to grow into a leader. Jeff says, “The last 10% of excellence takes 50% more effort…And really, truly, I tell my children…if you’re not living on the edge, you’re just taking up space.”  

Living on the edge means that you’re going for the opportunities that are presenting themselves, but you’re also making your own opportunities. Creating experiences and making things happen will further you to your reward. The difficultly in this is trying to figure out how to live your life to give that extra 50% while allowing that growth to turn you into the leader that you want to be AND balancing the other aspects of your life.   

When the opportunity to coach his kids arose, Jeff grabbed that opportunity and it allowed him to practice leadership on the field. In coaching, he found so many aspects that were similar to business that he admired. “When you step across the line onto that field, you can’t recontract. It’s [like] you’ve made your choice. You’ve launched this business.”  

Jeff’s coaching not only allowed him to become closer to his family and his sons, but it taught him business management that allowed him to improve certain skills that would further him in his industry. It was beyond the business aspect as the gap between his family life and his work life was bridged closer than before.  

You might not have the opportunity to coach your children, but Jeff’s lessons are still important. Business habits can transfer to your family, as you’re working cohesively as a unit. Recognizing that there are lessons in business that you can take to your family life, and lessons from your family experiences you can transfer to your business is the start of the connection that you can reinforce between your family and work.   

The Top 3 Characteristics to Succeed 

Jeff puts emphasize on three important characteristics that allowed him to have success in his life – whether it be with his business, his coaching, or his family.  

Grit, the ability to persist and see it through, is one of the things that is important in any aspect of life. Opportunities will come along and they will work out depending on how determined you are. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a smooth or bumpy ride – it’s seeing something to end without accepting failure. Between how you handle the setbacks, how you keep the bigger picture in mind, and how you lead your team will determine how successful you will be in whatever task you want to accomplish.  

With times of Covid, grit has been one of the biggest things that businesses need to have to grow and push through the harder times. There is so much that you can do and so much to accomplish, you’ve got to use your tools and what know to your advantage.   

The next thing that Jeff values is intellectual humility. “One of the things that I’ve come to believe is that envy is the enemy of enlightenment…the more that you can be around people to expand your thinking, shape, your perspective, [and] just inform your thinking…the better off you’re going to be.”  

Being bitter about someone else’s success takes the opportunity to meet and learn from great people. Communicating and discovering things from someone else makes you a better leader for your team. Knowing that you’re not always going to have the answers that you need, and that it’s okay not to know everything, overall makes you a well-rounded leader. You’re never going to know it all, so you might as well learn when you can.   

The final tip from Jeff is diplomacy, or the resolution of conflicts in a mature manner. Relationships remain healthy and stable with respect and resolving matters. Putting emphasis on relationships with people who you need to trust can be hard, but it’s even harder if you don’t give that trust while working on the same common goal. The people you work with should be the people that only have the best intentions for whatever it is you want to create – and in that you should find the mutual trust.  

You are never going to have enough time or energy to do everything that you want to do. But if you have enough determination, finding a balance between the aspects of your life can allow successes to grow and multiply. Know that when you’re in business, you’re always learning. It never stops, and the values that you hold can change and morph. Between all the different parts of your crazy life, remember that only you can control yourself – stick to what you believe in and success will come.