The Fabulous Beekman Boys Dr. Brent Ridge on Making Flexible Life Work - FlexJobs

The Fabulous Beekman Boys Dr. Brent Ridge on Making Flexible Life Work - FlexJobsThe Fabulous Beekman Boys Dr. Brent Ridge on Making Flexible Life Work Not many people count a narcissistic llama as one of their pets, but the stars of Planet Greens Fabulous Beekman Boys have proven that they live life outside of the box AND the office cube. In fact, the timing of the zweierkombi buying a farm only to both be let go of their New York City jobs couldnt have been more perfect. got the chance to speak with star Dr. Brent Ridge, a former VP of Martha Stewart Healthy Living, on life in the flexible work lane.Making flexible life workWhat are the benefits for trading in an office job for more flexible work?BRENT The benefits are obvious you are working from home. And you dont have a lot of the distractions you would have if you are going into the office. You are much more efficient when youre working from home than when you are working in the office. What you have to be careful of is that y ou orchestrate that work/life balance because when youre working from home, youre never separated from it by any distance. And the tendency for some people is to work all the time. So, I think you really need to lay down some rules for yurself.Definitely. What are some of the rules you have laid down?BRENT I havent set down any rules laughs. Im saying thats what you SHOULD do. I dont practice what I preach. Were in a situation where were starting a company and the company is growing very quickly and were trying to make the most of all the opportunities that are coming ur way. The lessons that you learn on the farm and its true is that you have to make hay while the sun shines. And thats what were trying to do so were always going.How do you supplement the infamous water cooler talk while working from home?BRENT Deadpans Oh.you wouldnt believe what a big gossip our llama is. He reads all the tabloidswatches all the Housewives shows?BRENT watches all the Housewives shows. In fact, h e wants to BE one of the housewives.One benefit to having a flexible work schedule is of course more time with kids for parents, and also pets for pet owners. Did you enjoy having more time with your two pigs, dozen chickens, of course the llama, and eighty goats, EIGHTY?BRENT More than that now. Now we have 127 goatsOh my goodness.BRENT Every morning starts out walking through the barn, checking in with all the animals, saying hello, getting a few goat kisses, a llama kiss, gathering eggs from the chicken coup its a process. Its different having a flex job on the farm because the work is really never done, but its definitely more enjoyable. In fact, I think thats what most people who enter a flex job find is that the work is more enjoyable.At what point did you decide to engage in flexible work/ to make a career change and start Beekman 1802?BRENT We bought the farm property and thought it was going to be a weekend farm we lived in the city within a year of buying the place we b oth lost our jobs in the city. Before that, we had a farmer write us a note asking if he could bring his goats over to the farm. When we both lost our jobs, we decided we needed to do something with the farm or we were going to lose it. Thats how we actually started in the farming business and it led to a complete career change.What are some of your favorite items from Beekman 1802? I love the pillows, by the wayBRENT The pillows are great. Every one of them is hand stitched by local artists. Right now were working with about 22 different local crafts people where we design the products and have them make them for us. Thats always been a philosophy of our company to help support as many people in the local community as possible so they can make a living doing the things they love to do. We actually have four people in flex positions right now. They get to set their own hours. They get to come in when theyre free. We work with a lot of stay at home moms particularly during the holida y season when theres never a shortage of work. Last holiday season we had 6 different moms who were doing something for us during the holidays.Are you enjoying running a business from home?BRENT I am. We started our business at home. Our company is now 3 years old. It was just last year that we moved into the village so now a lot of our back end stuff is happening out of the village a lot of our shipping and what not. Its leise close enough to home that Im between the two every day.There are many green benefits to working from homeBRENT Aside from the commute, I think probably and Im not saying this just to be funny some weeks I wear the same outfit six days in a row. I save a lot of water for laundry. Truthfully, we live on the farm and were growing our own food so when it comes to lunch time, I just walk out to the garden and pick whatevers ready and usually make an impromptu salad while walking through. Its easy being green when living on a farm.How did the show, The Fabulous Beekman Boys on Planet Green featuring you and Josh come about?BRENT We started our website, Beekman1802.com, It started as a blog when we were working in the city and when we would come up on the weekends wed take a train we would write what we hope to accomplish and when we went home, wed write a blog about all the things we did accomplish and all the surprises that happened. We started creating recipes from things we harvested in the garden and it grew into a major website. We started doing newsletters and the president of Planet Green got on our email list and received a few of them and then emailed through the Web site asking if we would come in and talk to her. They said, We think you guys would make a great TV show. Thats how it happened.Will there be another season??BRENT Youll just have to wait and find out.Anything else youd like to share for people seeking a job that allows them a better eco-friendly work/life balance?BRENT Just like any job, there are some good aspects and some bad aspects. Some people take a flex position or a stay at home position and find they miss the socialization that they had in an office setting. If thats something you are concerned about the social aspect of it find other people who are doing flex jobs that you canmeet up with once a week or something for that water cooler conversation. Or just get a llama.You can find Brent and Josh at their website, Beakman1802.com, or at their TV show on Planet Green.