Clay Hoberecht, owner of Best Body Shop in Wichita, Kan., wants to end the stigma that one’s work and personal life have to be seperated.
When FenderBender first spoke with Hoberecht, in Dec. 2017 (https://www.fenderbender.com/articles/9500-a-clear-vision), the shop owner put a large focus on connecting with his staff. They had daily lunches as a team, where it was announced in a group chat that lunch was ready. They also had a quasi book club, where Hoberecht purchased an audiobook for everyone and they discussed it at the end of the month. One other thing that Hoberecht did is have 1-on-1s with his staff once per month.
By taking those measures, Hoberecht got to know his employees on a more personal level. One of the most important things Hoberecht does to connect with his staff is actively work
to connect his home and work life. By redirecting energy from working to separate the two and putting it into his company, Best Body Shop has grown to produce nearly $1 million in annual revenue.
“It takes an immense amount of focus and discipline to break this mentality that life stops when you clock in and and work stops when you clock out,” he says. “You start to notice that life is ongoing, and it doesn’t matter if you’re on the clock or not.”
There’s a common phrase that goes, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life,” but Hoberecht disagrees. He thinks that it’s a cute saying, but it’s a lie.
“You’re going to spend the majority of your time doing things that you don’t want to do,” he says. “The truth is that you have to have discipline in the area of being willing to do what you don’t like to get what you want.”
So, how, exactly, do you connect life and work? The biggest tip Hoberecht says to do is to change your approach to work/life balance.
Hoberecht shares three of the impacts that connecting your home and work lives has.
Personal Development.
When you stop trying to separate your work life and your home life, you’ll see more growth in yourself, Hoberecht notes. Since 2017, the Kansas shop owner has seen both his empathy and patience increase, saying that he wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or as a result of working.
Learning how to work on a team is one thing, but learning how to effectively lead a group is another. The longer Hoberecht keeps his home and work connected, the less he has to worry about keeping track of two different things, allowing him to focus on being a better leader.
Being able to focus his energy into being more patient and empathetic means that his team can produce high quality work.
Connection.
Being able to better himself has made it so that Hoberecht can be a better role model for his staff, with the idea that having a good example to observe on a daily basis will have more of an impact on employees than just telling them what to do.
Had Hoberecht not made an effort to connect with his employees, he wouldn’t have known that one of his employee’s children is pursuing an Olympic athletic career, for example. Since he has built that connection, the shop owner has been able to work with this staff members to allow him to both work and support his child.
Memories
One of Homberecht’s goals in life is to be successful, but also to be a great father. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to do both, he says.
There are days that the shop owner brings his children into work, and because of this, his four-year-old daughter has been able to learn much about what her dad does. She has a feel for how to scan cars, and has sat in with her father during important phone meetings.
Hoberecht simply wants his children to be able to look back and say that their lives were great whether their dad was at home or at work.
While working to break the separation between both aspects of life, Hoberecht can be a CEO and a family man, simultaneously. Because, at the end of the day, no matter what happens, he’s there for his family.
