Balancing the Grind with Gavin Basserabie, Co-Founder of ConfidenceClub

Gavin Basserabie is the co-founder of ConfidenceClub, a more discreet, affordable, and convenient way for Australians to access the right incontinence products for their individual needs.

Let’s start with your background! Can you share with us your career journey and what you’re currently up to?

I started my career qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and working as an auditor, but I didn’t enjoy it. I wanted a career that would make a positive impact, so I embarked on my entrepreneur journey, starting with a restaurant food delivery business seven years before Menulog.

I then joined my current business partner Garron Lipschitz to launch one of the first ecommerce department stores in Australia, oo.com.au, in 2005. That experience taught me about the home delivery industry and providing customer service at scale. The business eventually ended up listing on the ASX.

Wanting to be involved in a business that used technology to help people live a better life, while still creating value for shareholders, I then set my sights on the healthcare industry, helping to build one of the largest cultivators of medical cannabis in the world, MindHealth.

Fast forward a few years and I was seeing the frustration my family members were experiencing when helping my late aunt manage her incontinence issues. It was clear to me that the way of finding and purchasing the right products for one’s needs was crying out for something better. It was shortly after this that Garron approached me with the ConfidenceClub opportunity, and it took me no convincing to join him in building the business. 

We’d love to know what a typical day is like for you. Could you describe a recent workday?

I like to exercise in the morning, either doing a gym workout or a walk along the beachfront and then a quick dip in the ocean. Exercise and sea swimming helps me maintain my stress levels and gets me ready for the day. I don’t drink coffee so I need something else to get me going! 

My main focus in the business is our strategic direction and focusing on how we can improve our processes or extend our offering to more customers, both in Australia or overseas with our recent expansion to the UK. I also really enjoy engaging with customers; I manage our social engagement communications and respond to Google and product reviews. 

Most days I will have three or four meetings with team members or external partners. Where possible I try to have face-to-face meetings – online meetings are good but I love the personal interaction.

For my sins of being an accountant, I am responsible for the financial side of our business, so I work with our finance team and accountants to ensure everything is paid on time. My secret ‘vice’ is that I check our daily sales progress endlessly throughout the day as it gives me pleasure seeing how many people order – especially all the repeat customers.

Home life is pretty busy with 5 kids who are almost grown up and some cute chihuahuas who are always very happy to have me home. I try to get to sleep early but often get distracted by a mini-series on Netflix or Stan.

Can you define work-life balance for yourself and share with us your approach in maintaining it?

I feel very fortunate that I really enjoy my job and building our business, so most of the time it doesn’t feel like ‘work’ to me.

I tend to spend a few hours working each weekend, as the thing that stresses me the most is falling behind and starting a new week chasing the end of the old one.

I try to exercise regularly, as being active makes me happy and keeps me sane. This also means I try not to schedule meetings first thing in the morning.

My work requires me to travel a bit, so I try to build in a few days of ‘non-work’ travel into each trip, possibly to see friends or family or just take in the sights of the place I’m working in.

Change is constant, and it’s essential for growth. Have you made any lifestyle changes in the past year to improve your work-life balance?

I used to work a lot at home once I finished dinner, which resulted in me going to sleep really late. I have now tried to avoid doing any non-urgent work at night to get to sleep earlier, and then wake up earlier to exercise – and so far, so good (most days at least)! I feel this makes me more productive and also more engaged with my family at home.

I used to run on the beach and have a dip in the ocean three times a week, every week, even in winter. Due to travel commitments and a few injuries recently, I haven’t done this in months and I really feel the impact on my mental well-being, so talking about this here is going to motivate me to go back to swimming every week!

We’re always on the lookout for new resources! Can you recommend any books, podcasts, or newsletters that have helped you in your journey towards balance?

As much as I love reading, I’m terrible at actually doing it. I think I’m just too lazy to find books that I will enjoy. Occasionally my wife will recommend a book and I will love reading it, especially on a holiday, but I never make the effort to find books myself.

I enjoy listening to podcasts, especially when I’m exercising or on longer drives. I primarily listen to news and current affairs podcasts like The Daily, The Economist or Today Explained but have loved some true crime such as, Who the Hell Is Hamish?, which is worth checking out. I also really enjoy WorkLife with Adam Grant, which I actually found through Balance The Grind!

Before we wrap up, do you have any final words of wisdom or insights on work, life, or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

I think that maintaining a balance in everything is essential to prevent burnout. It does take effort to work out what ‘balance’ looks like to you and then commit to working towards achieving that. I also believe ‘balance’ changes quite frequently, so what worked for a period of time may need to be adjusted or updated as outside influences and your own personal agenda changes.

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