Katey Battenally is the Business Development Manager at Rhomeo, a company on a mission to revolutionise people’s search for the perfect property opportunity.
Are you ready to rewrite the stories you tell yourself about success? Sign up for Balance the Grind’s newsletter and get inspired by stories from people in all walks of life!
To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
My career so far has been made up of 10+ years in the content and digital marketing space, having run my own business for 6 of those years. Concluding the business ownership journey, a majority of the business was acquired by a NASDAQ listed company in the technology space in mid 2022, which facilitated my exit from the day-to-day.
In the last 2 years of business we shifted and pin-pointed our focus of the service delivery to be in the digital, local search space. We tracked and measured results, grew our client list, and developed a meaningful way to service a select client base in a very specific way.
Since the acquisition, I’ve been able to focus on a couple of passion projects as a shareholder and in a Board Advisory role, which has fulfilled my desire to work ‘from the ground up’ with other start-ups, who have their sites on global expansion.
I’ve also been able to lock-into the role of Business Development Manager in a high growth real estate technology business, with sights on the US market in the short to medium term.
What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
A day in work-life for me consists of a mixed journey of calm, high impact, logical ‘listening to what the body says’ and being present at all stages.
I spend a large chunk of each day speaking with current and prospective B2B partners, having conversations around ways to integrate and generate joint revenue streams, and actively seeking out growth opportunities. There is a specific amount of time each day dedicated to ‘daily prospecting’ for 1 hour chunks (this is ingrained in my day-to-day life as a serial sales person, that I learnt early-ish on, from a business coach I had as I was scaling up my business).
I prioritise a calm morning routine, that simply-put, includes hot tea and focus. The morning for me, is a time for sharp execution on identifying prospecting opportunities and setting up meetings to leverage and build relationships. It’s a time I can sit ‘behind the screen’ and set up conversations I want to have when I get my surge of energy to action discussions late morning, over lunch, and early afternoon.
Afternoons are for physical activity! Well, for 30-60 minutes, depending on the day. I’ll generally go brain-dead around 3 pm, so that’s often my time to get moving, and then come back to the computer and the phone while I’ve got endorphins running hot to finish off the day and you guessed it – set up more opportunities and meetings to keep momentum on the rolling week ahead.
If the day ahead is looking busy, I remind myself that I don’t have to do it all at once, time will allow what the calendar has booked, and enjoy each conversation as it comes about – because I have always made sure I have time for it!
What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
Work-life balance, to me, means executing on the ability to effectively limit stress and time pressure, on any given daily experience, at any given moment. The ability to balance the day between work and ‘life’ activities is a simple art that fundamentally requires explicit time management.
It certainly helps that I work in a highly flexible (virtual) workplace that promotes the team to flourish based on our individual ‘work/body’ clocks. Within reason of course! Structure leads to freedom.
Sign up for Balance the Grind’s newsletter to receive weekly stories about work-life balance and inspiration from people all over the world!
In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
In the past 12 months I’ve learnt to be overly protective of my time and have worked consistently to define and set clear boundaries, in all corners of my life. Previously I would ‘make myself available’ to anyone, any time, based on when they were free or what was convenient for them.
If that meant I had to drive from one end of town to another on the same day (and back again) for irrelevant or far-fetched meetings, I would do it. Now, I find mutually beneficial times to meet, avoid any unnecessary travel, and be clear on how long I can give to each encounter -both professionally and socially.
I avoid using the word ‘busy’ in every instance because I am a strong believer in prioritising time, rather than just being ‘busy’. It’s easy to be ‘busy’, but it takes strategic planning and meaningful thinking to prioritise – and that, in and of-itself, is one of the most important fundamental values I seek to express to others, and visa-versa.
Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
I thoroughly enjoy a semi-regular read of 31 Minutes by Matt Steinwede, the title in itself speaks to my time based values (just to point in the obvious direction!)
Equally, I am heavily invested in property investment advice and strategy space, and hooked on the Podcasts created and run by one of the Founders of the company I work for now – The Investor Lab and The Wild Goose Chase by Goose McGrath. The content is energetically delivered, with meaningful concepts – trust me, if you get a case of the ‘brain-dead 3-o’clockers’ like me, 30 mins on the cross-trainer with Goose in your ear will really get your motor running!
Also a huge fan of the Alexis Fernandes Podcasts – she’s an absolute TIME, and an extremely well-educated cookie. The delivery of her content about bio-chemistry and the human mind, emotions and situational analysis of what life can throw at you, is both entertaining and easy-to-understand. She makes science sound easy (and funny AF).
If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
Ben Faulks, CEO of Ray White Canberra – multi-business owner and investor, family man, and personal advocate. Ben is an unofficial mentor of mine that I hold in high regard when it comes to business and life decisions that require precision and negotiation.
Ben is married with 3 kids and has an interest in multiple successful businesses. I really appreciate his formula to balance, even though I don’t know what it is! I just know that he’s been successful in achieving it consistently. I of course politely ask him for advice every now and again, but I save it for when I really need it.
Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Thoughts on work: aligning core personal values with the business(s) in which you own, work in or operate within, will always have longevity.
Thoughts on life: work is a part of life, and balance is the glue between the two – if you can blend the three together, the journey will be sustainable and enjoyable.
Thoughts on balance: 80/20 rule on everything I do. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything! I need this quantitative measure to work towards and reflect on to feel like I’m achieving balance. I don’t believe balance means a 50/50 approach; the scales weighed on an 80-/20 rule make me feel fulfilled and fair in my time balance mantra to achieving freedom, as a result of structure in all corners of daily life.
Before you go…
If you’d like to sponsor or advertise with Balance the Grind, let’s talk here
