Navigating the Tightrope: Work-Life Harmony in a Christian Entrepreneur's Journey

Ever feel like you're walking a tightrope between your job and your joy? Brian Utter, ShineFM's executive director, steps into our space with a wellspring of wisdom on striking that elusive balance. As a Christian entrepreneur, he understands the gravity of this juggle and brings to the table actionable advice on using calendar management and technology to etch out those personal margins we all desperately need. But don't be fooled – Brian's not all about the digital life; his love for the classic Post-it note resonates with anyone who finds comfort in the tangible. So, join us as we navigate the complexities of a demanding career and a fulfilling personal life, and discover how to harmonize the two with grace and intentionality.

Burnout – it's the boogeyman lurking in the shadows of our professional lives, waiting to pounce on creativity and leave us feeling like a shell of our innovative selves. In this heart-to-heart, we peel back the layers of exhaustion and stress that come with burning the candle at both ends. From the gravity of declining projects that sing to our soul, to the stark cultural contrasts in vacation norms and generational shifts in break-taking, we dissect the obstacles that stand in the way of rejuvenation. Learn from our shared stories why a fortress of a supportive team isn't just beneficial, it's essential for leaders seeking to recharge without guilt.

Creating boundaries between work and home isn't just about turning off your email notifications; it's a dance that requires practice, support, and a little faith. We dive into the significance of prioritizing life's demands through the lens of faith, reminding us that sometimes, less is more.

To connect with Brian, you can find him on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram at @brianutter. You can also call his office number at 815-939-5037.  

To connect with Olivet’s Entrepreneurship Program, contact Program Director, Chris Perez at caperez2@olivet.edu.

To learn more about other entrepreneurship opportunities and the McGraw School of Business’s very own Createur Conference and Pitch Competition, go to Createur.Olivet.edu.

Transcript

Karli Byrd: 0:00

What does it mean to be a Christian entrepreneur? How can I turn my ideas into an actual business? How do I navigate my path to entrepreneurship?

Spencer James: 0:11

Welcome to Creator, the podcast brought to you by Olivet Nazarene University's McGraw School of Business to unlock the secrets to Christian entrepreneurship and fuel your path to success.

Karli Byrd: 0:23

I'm your host, Carly Bird, graduate assistant of Olivet's Entrepreneurship Program.

Spencer James: 0:29

I'm your co-host, Spencer, James and Olivet undergraduate marketing management and business administration major.

Karli Byrd: 0:35

Join us, fellow students, as we embark on a journey to discover the call of the entrepreneur.

Spencer James: 0:40

This week we're joined by Brian Utter to discuss the importance of balancing work and life, where faith and business meet. This is the Creator Podcast. Hello everyone. This week, carly and I have the pleasure of being joined by our very own shinefm executive director, brian Utter.

Karli Byrd: 0:59

Yes, brian serves as the executive director of the Olivet Media Group, which includes the Shinefm network, the Brillafm network and Spark HD. He is also a multimedia professor right here at ONU and serves as the global coordinator of World Mission Broadcast. Brian, thank you so much for being with us today.

Brian Utter: 1:17

Hey, thanks for having me today. You list off all those credentials and you realize this guy doesn't have life balance. He does way too much, it's true.

Karli Byrd: 1:26

I get you. It can be very difficult and that's one of the discussion points today. You know, just being real and honest with the students and kind of informing them on what that kind of looks like in life. So you know, when we're talking about work-life balance which you know honestly, does that even exist today? It's easy to get in your head and think can I really have both a successful career that I'm really dedicated to, but also, you know, a personal life in general? Can you have both of those? So you know, just to start off, what would be some you know techniques or methods you would recommend for dealing with managing your time wisely and finding that balance in your life.

Brian Utter: 2:09

Yeah, a calendar is everything for me. I'll be honest with you, because we have to do so much, put everything on the calendar. And one of the things especially during COVID that helped me because I had to track every interaction with students just in case you know if someone got sick, they knew who they were with, how long they were with them, and so I put everything in a calendar so then I can also look back and look at margin and figure out did I have enough margin in my calendar? That creates that balance. And I'll be honest with you, many weeks I don't Many weeks it's like I had how many meetings this week and it's a total death by meeting. But I think putting it in front of you visually will give you a it's kind of like a good measure on how that life balance is going. So I recommend calendar, calendar, calendar, tracking everything as part of it. Yeah.

Karli Byrd: 3:03

Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree with you. I don't know what I would do without my calendar some days. Yeah.

Spencer James: 3:10

You know you talk about the calendar and being one of your tools. I mean, what are some other, maybe pieces of technology or some other systems that you use that kind of help enable a little bit more productivity, maybe in your work life balance? And then what are some things that maybe hinder you from being able to have a good work life balance?

Brian Utter: 3:26

So tech that helps me? Again, it depends on the hat I'm wearing at the moment. But let's just look at the professor hat. I make sure that I have everything set up in canvas. It kind of measures everything. All my exams are graded right in canvas. So again, that's something I can use technology to take that part off my plate. But yeah, just that's one of the tools. Definitely that works for me, boy. What are some other ones? So workflow softwares One of the things that we have as a part of our shine ministries is a great workflow software when it comes to our business development side of things.

Brian Utter: 4:06

So we have this. Of course it's an internet based platform, so access from anywhere. Our sales people in the field, you know, put in an order. They put in all the details they're assigning who's going to voice that. So then the person that voices that can get in there and do that If there's questions on the scripting. But then from there it goes into our traffic department, which has nothing to do with cars. That's how we schedule our commercials, if you will.

Brian Utter: 4:36

So that workflow software helps everything run smoothly and it's really multiple different departments that are feeding into it and have access to it, from sales, to production, to traffic, to voice. We need everyone to have access to that. So that really kind of smooths the process out for us. I had, for example, I had someone just this last week who was producing a promotional video. They didn't like the voiceover it was for a foundation and so they sent me an email and they're like can you find someone to do this voice? And I just followed up with an email Are you looking for male, female voice, who's the target audience? And they sent me the video, and so we were able to send it in less than five minutes and they were shocked yeah, like well, this is what we do and we have the systems in place that allow us to be able to produce that quickly.

Spencer James: 5:34

That's great. I love that. I use my. I'm a checklist guy, so I love using that just the checklist app on my phone and stuff like that, and that's really how I kind of have my own workflow to be able to separate even some of the personal to-dos and then also the kind of official to-dos as well.

Brian Utter: 5:53

I do not have a digital checklist. I'll be honest with that. I am a post-it note guy.

Spencer James: 5:58

I'm kind of old school. That's good too. Yeah, but I have post-it notes everywhere.

Brian Utter: 6:01

I do have my digital calendar, but if I'm you know, I have notebooks full of notes. I don't think I have my notebook in the studio here, but you know, and so I'm constantly going back over. I have to, I guess I have to write it. That was the way I was when I was in school as well. If I wanted to learn material and really get it stuck in my brain, I had to write it out. So I had great notes from class, but I also will take great notes from textbooks as well.

Karli Byrd: 6:23

So, brian, especially for some of our listeners who are just getting started out in the business field and you know it's brand new to them it's important to push yourself and show that you really care about that work that you're getting started in and, you know, show your initiative early on so that it will help you adjust and get better later in life. However, we all know that too much of a good thing can quickly become a bad thing as well, and I think that's where that concept of burnout comes in. So do you think first could you just start by you know giving us an idea of what burnout is exactly, and then you know how can we actually, if possible, avoid it?

Brian Utter: 7:03

Yeah, number one. In my realm, burnout is a creativity killer. When you are burnout and you're tired, you have no creativity left. When you're stressed and if you have so much pressure to perform in your role, that can turn into chronic stress, which is actually a diagnosed thing. Chronic stress means that there is zero creativity coming from you. So if you're in a field that requires creativity, you're not gonna be able to do anything at that point. So the work-life balance is definitely a priority in that.

Brian Utter: 7:36

So burnout is psychological, it's emotional, but it's also physical. So I tell even my students today seven hours of sleep. You need seven hours of sleep In the media world where you're creating content. It's not physically demanding, it's mentally demanding, and so when you don't have those seven hours of sleep, then you're not going to again be able to create. So burnout can definitely have physical detriment to your health. I mean it can cause physical problems. Chronic illness can develop from burnout.

Brian Utter: 8:16

How do you know if you have burnout? That's the million dollar question. It's hard, especially I love what I do, okay, I'm passionate about what I do. So I have a very hard time saying no when it has to do with what I do, and it also has to do especially with Kingdom work. With this Kingdom work, I have a hard time saying no. I just finished. I'm gonna be honest again transparency. I just finished the busiest summer of my life and I should have said no.

Brian Utter: 8:46

So a couple of years ago I was in a mentorship the recently retired CEO of Educational Media Foundation, which is the owner of K-Love everyone knows K-Love. He was my mentor for a year and he told me flat out you are the busiest person I've ever met in my life, which is not something you wanna hear. So why you guys picked me to talk about this on the podcast, I have no idea. But he said my goal this year is to teach you to say no. And at the end of that year he said I failed miserably because I have a hard time saying no when it comes to kingdom work.

Brian Utter: 9:24

And that's true. And I think it's the same way with, like, a small business owner. A small business owner, they have given their life to get that business going and be successful, and so small business owners, I think more than anyone, struggle with work-life balance because their entire attention is focused on the success of that business and they give themselves to it. So how do we carve out the time to have that margin? That's a million dollar question that I still struggle to find the answer to.

Karli Byrd: 9:57

Yeah, I love that you mentioned, though, learning that ability to actually say no. That is something that so many of us struggle with. At first it sounds like a silly question, almost being able to just say the new word no, and usually we're trained to say yes. That's how we make strides in life and move to the next level, but it is so true that you have to know your limits and find that balance in life.

Spencer James: 10:24

Yeah, I think also what Carly was saying about too much of a good thing can kind of turn into a bad thing. With people and organizations constantly calling for your attention, I mean, how do you manage being able to say no or just set aside time to just take a break, even Mm-hmm yeah, and so I think a lot of pressure is just put on us in the corporate world today to not take vacation, and I've read studies on cause.

Brian Utter: 10:51

Europeans are different from us Europeans. They take a month. Oh my goodness, they'll take an entire month off. I lived in South America for seven years. In Argentina, which is very much influenced by Europe. In January they're packing up 80% of their household and they're going on vacation for a month, renting another house since near the beach or whatever and setting up household there for a month.

Brian Utter: 11:15

And we here, we surrender I know I do. I surrender days, if not weeks, of my vacation time every year that I don't take. And I think it's just this tremendous pressure that we're on and it's generational my generation, we have pressure to keep performing at the level we've performed at our entire careers because we have your generation coming up and we feel like if we don't perform, hey, guess what they can pay them a lot less because we've got a lot more years of experience and our salaries are higher, and so it's just pressure. And then your pressure is I've got to get into this and I've got to create my career and I've got to succeed. Because of all the pressure of putting all those certificates online and making sure that my social media is perfect, and so it's just, it's pressure on each generation, but in a different way.

Spencer James: 12:11

I totally agree with that. But I think also in finding that balance. I mean, what does that look for you just in how you can let go of things almost right, like saying, hey, team, I'm gonna leave for the next week. How does that letting go look for you in the times that you get to find a vacation?

Brian Utter: 12:27

Okay, you said a word there. That is team, and team is vital. The number one characteristic that I believe shows a great leader is who they hire around them. That complements their own weakness. So if I see someone who hires somebody and let's face it, we all have weaknesses, we're not the full package no one is okay, amen. But if they hire someone that's a lot like them, I'm like is that smart? Because they're weak in this area and they've hired someone exactly like them, which is why I go after someone with an MBA in finance who is gonna look at my spreadsheet way closer than I have time, for I need that person on my team. I need that person on my team that is the cheerleader that's outgoing beyond extrovert, because I just don't have time to spend time with people like they would, and so I hire people as a part of that team that really fill in what I'm deficient in. I don't even remember the original question you asked, but I think, oh yeah, team allows you to trust those people. A great leader builds a team that fills in the weaknesses, and a great leader builds a team that they trust so they can step away and take that rest that they need.

Brian Utter: 13:58

So last summer I had a sabbatical, first ever sabbatical 27 years Full-time ministry never had a sabbatical before. Since I'm not a full-time professor, I'm not in the professor sabbatical rotation so I just said, hey, I'm tired, I need a break, I need to step away. And and so they granted me a seven-week sabbatical. So I Literally shut my email down and I did not get on my cell phone very much at all, and I had to purposely do those things to rest. Now, apparently I wasn't resting enough Because I totally fell and broke my wrist and so, no God's like, yeah, you need to rest more, so I'm going to break your wrist, and it definitely caused me to, yeah, not do the all the outside projects that I wanted to do during sabbatical when I should have been resting. So a team, a team that you can trust, that allows you to step away and be able to get recharged.

Karli Byrd: 14:56

That kind of goes into another thought that I had. Uh, we live in such a high technology world nowadays where we can be Accessible almost 24 seven, I would say. You know, we have these emails, uh, people can get ahold of us whenever. How do you manage living in a world that is, you know, so consumed in this media format and Making time for yourself and knowing when should I answer, when do I wait? How do you manage that?

Brian Utter: 15:27

Again, I'm not a good example of this, I'll be honest with you. Um, just because, uh, radio stations operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, something goes wrong. I get an alert, I have to check my phone, I have to deal with it. Um, so, just setting up rules and I'm not good at this, I'll be honest with you again, I'm a horrible example to be talking about this but, um, yeah, setting up rules where, um, if it is office business, uh, you, and it's not 911 office business, then you don't respond.

Brian Utter: 16:03

You know, I know some people that literally plug their phone in when they get home. They don't touch it. If you're in that kind of a role where you can completely turn it off, please do, please. I mean, when I say turn it off, turn off the work at the office, okay, um, some people aren't like in my sit, my situation, I can't turn it off. But I can also say, yeah, I'll deal with that tomorrow. That's not emergency, um. And then also, I have this, um, I have this warning system that will keep me in check, and it's not really high tech. It's my wife, so she's like, is that important? No, okay.

Karli Byrd: 16:42

So, and then I put my phone down, yeah, that brings up another great point as well having a support system around you that can kind of be there for you and uh, but sometimes they're the ones that say no for you, or they can be the ones to add that input that you need To help get yourself on the right track and, you know, maintain your mental health as well as physical health right, yeah, yeah.

Brian Utter: 17:05

So for example, this summer I again busiest summer ever. I had three international trips.

Brian Utter: 17:11

Oh, my goodness if I'm doing a trip like that, I'm always, you know, I'm checking my own calendar, but I'm also checking with the boss, which is my wife, to make sure that's okay To do that. Another international trip, um, and so, yeah, to have that system in place, someone who is brutally honest with you, which is a spouse, you know, and say, yeah, you're doing too much. So I would give your spouse permission, or at least give someone, maybe an accountability partner permission to call you on it At any moment there's people around you.

Karli Byrd: 17:42

Uh, we're very relational human beings and having uh different Interactions and connections that can keep you on track and uh be that person for you To keep you stable. I guess you would say yeah.

Spencer James: 17:57

Yeah, I mean, even in past episodes we talked about just the importance of having a mentor and the the meaning of what a mentor is and and to educate you right. They've lived that experience before and they've also lived the the time management piece of that before, what that balance looks like.

Brian Utter: 18:12

So and that never stops. Yeah, okay, I'm a big believer in lifelong learning, but I'm also a big believer in always having someone speaking into you. Uh, you know I've been. This is my 36th year in media, um, but I have people that are still coaching me and mentoring me along the way, and that should never stop.

Spencer James: 18:35

Yeah, I want to bounce real quick for a second to faith and just ask you you know, what does your faith look like? And finding that balance. I mean, have you seen areas of your life where you say, hey, I've been able to carve out a little bit of margin for my faith and been able to see some of those benefits reaped?

Brian Utter: 18:53

Yeah, yeah, and that's the weird part of this Do you actually put into your calendar faith, right, and that shouldn't be the case. So I will say this I don't know where I heard or read this, but the word priority was never created to be plural. Did you know that priorities is not a legitimate word? When you go back to the original whatever, whether it was Latin or not, priority was one, and so, when it comes to faith, our priority is God.

Brian Utter: 19:26

If it's just one thing, now God will adjust your priorities plural, if you will and there are going to be times in your life where family will come first that's a lot, actually, they'll come first quite a bit, you know. Then your faith should be probably above family and that should be priority, and finding things in the margin space, in the margin for your faith should become a priority. So allowing God as the priority, to adjust your priorities according to your situation, is kind of the way I live. So I know that I don't have anything pressing with family this week so I can dedicate more time in other areas, but there are going to be weeks where I've got important family things that have come up and I have to make that the priority and so allowing God to adjust them as the singular priority in your life. Really, that's the way I set my boundaries.

Karli Byrd: 20:28

You know, as we start to wrap up, we like to do this thing called the quirky question of the week. Some are more quirky than others. I've really stumped a few people in the past and I still feel bad about that, but hey, I guess I'm doing my job then, if I do that. So, spencer, do you want to kick it off this week? What do we have?

Spencer James: 20:45

Yeah, I'll do the quirky question of the week. So you know, as executive director of the Olivet Media Group, what would you say has been one of the most memorable places that you have traveled to, Of all the places you've gone.

Brian Utter: 20:59

Gone as the Olivet Media Group.

Karli Byrd: 21:02

Yes, because I know you've been quite a few places, so we'll try to make it a little simpler on you.

Brian Utter: 21:05

Because World Mission Broadcast. I've been all over the world with that, but let's just do a recent one. How about that? So we love getting into our local communities. We were this summer at the Frankfurt Indiana Hot Dog Festival.

Brian Utter: 21:21

Alright, alright, so they do a festival every year, frankfurt, of course, hot dog. You know, their school mascot is the hot dog, oh wow. But you had Dotson contests. You know the hot dog dogs. But the highlight was there's a food tent with all kinds of different hot dog things on the menu, and one of them was called the hot dog split. Oh boy, and I'm like, what is this? And so I'm like sure, I'll try that. I have no idea what it is. And so it's just like a banana split where you have the bun as the tray, the hot dog is split like the banana on the sides and instead of like the ice cream in the center, you have scoops of coleslaw, pulled pork and mac and cheese. Oh, unbelievable, wow, yeah, it was very good. So, yeah, just being involved in local communities like that, and because they're just fun things that make that community that community, and I love just getting to know what those are.

Karli Byrd: 22:26

So yeah, I completely agree.

Spencer James: 22:29

That's great. I actually went to the museum of ice cream in Chicago a little while ago and they actually have a legit hot dog flavored soft serve.

Karli Byrd: 22:37

Oh my goodness, they're really putting buns it was not good, but I would not recommend. Wow, yeah, that's kind of what I thought you were gonna say at first. I was like, don't tell me, it's like hot dog ice cream or something. So now that I know that that exists. Oh, I'm not gonna be doing that anytime soon, that's right, brian.

Spencer James: 22:52

Thank you so much again today for joining us today on the podcast, and we really appreciate being able to use the shinefm studio and everything with it, so it's been great.

Karli Byrd: 23:01

Yes, it's always such a joy, and listeners Also. If you want to connect with Brian, feel free to find him. He is on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram. You can also call his office number at 815-939-5037.

Spencer James: 23:18

And to connect with all of its entrepreneurship program director, chris Perez, or discover other entrepreneurship opportunities the program has to offer, such as the McGraw School of Business' very own Creator Conference and Pitch Competition, which actually, brian, happened to be a part of this last year. Just go to all of itedu slash creator.

Karli Byrd: 23:36

Yes, and this week our team would also like to give a quick shout out to one of our incredible partners, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, or CCCU that's a lot of C's which is the leading national voice of Christian higher education. With more than 45 years of dedicated service to preserving and promoting the comprehensive education, both professional and spiritual, found at Christian colleges and universities, the CCCU is committed to ensuring Christ-centered higher education is available to continue transforming the lives of future generations for decades to come. Learn more at cccuorg, as always. Thank you for listening and don't forget to tune in next week when we have Jeff Williams joining us to discuss how to scale a business.

Spencer James: 24:22

Where faith and business mean. This is the Creator Podcast. We'll see you later, Laser.