The Magic Episode: Finding Work-Life Balance with Serial Entrepreneur Leo Gestetner
About this episode
When your phone is in your pocket around the clock and the to-do list never ends, it’s easy for work to swallow everything else. For home service owners who’ve spent years hitting it hard to get their business off the ground, burnout can start to feel normal.
In this episode, Kerry talks with serial entrepreneur, endurance athlete and A Founder’s Life podcast host Leo Gestetner about building a business without sacrificing your health or your family. You’ll hear his four pillars for a sustainable life as an owner, why scheduling is the simplest place to start, and how delegating to the right team frees up your time to grow.
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Key takeaways from this episode
- Working flat out is fine for a season, as long as it doesn’t become the norm.
- Look after four pillars: work, family, health and fun.
- Sleep is not optional: your body and your business need you rested.
- If you don’t schedule it, it doesn’t happen, so block out family time and workouts in advance.
- Time blocks only work if you stick to them.
- Start with small steps: nothing needs to be perfect.
Show notes
From a first business at 13 to serial entrepreneur
Leo has never had a “real job.” He started his first business, in technology, at 13, and has since built companies in handbags, lingerie, swimming goggles and real estate. Today he runs a staffing agency and a technology platform and hosts A Founder’s Life.
How entrepreneurship has changed
The biggest shift Leo has seen is reach. A local newspaper ad in London once reached a few thousand people; a post on Instagram or TikTok can, in principle, reach a billion. Kerry adds the other side of that change: owners are now reachable 24/7, which makes switching off much harder. Leo’s answer is to use Do Not Disturb and sleep mode, especially with a team spread across time zones.
The four pillars of a sustainable business life
Leo talks about balancing work, family, health and fun. Health covers fitness, sleep, food and mental health. He shares how he lost 95 pounds by changing how he eats rather than dieting, and why the same “most of the time” rule applies to long working days.
Harmony, holidays and finding what works for you
Kerry prefers the word harmony to balance, because busy weeks like month