Work/Life Integration Lessons I’ve Learned Over the Last 27 Years

This month marks 27 years since I launched Wisnik Career Enterprises, Inc.

When I launched Wisnik Career Enterprises in 1996, my oldest son was three years old. We waited until the business started to have a real following before having another child, and ended up having two within 17 months. Raising three kids and running a business was both challenging and rewarding.

Early on I decided that I would integrate my life and my business. What I mean by this is that at every opportunity possible I would expose my children to my clients and work, while melding client relationships into my life.

For example, my now 29-year-old son traveled with me to 26 states during his summer breaks when I was on my interview training cross-country circuit.

Below is an excerpt from a New York Times article written by Melinda Ligos in 2005:

“Eva Wisnik, president of Wisnik Career Enterprises, a New York firm that provides training to lawyers, belongs to the latter group. Last spring, her son, then 11, accompanied her on a 10-day training program throughout California and Nevada. Her two other children, ages 4 and 5, and her husband, have also tagged along on various trips over the last few years. Ms. Wisnik, who travels about 30 days a year to conduct training sessions at law firms throughout the country, says she uses the trips as opportunities to connect with her children, as well as expand their horizons. On the trip out west with her oldest son, for example, the two rented a sailboat one afternoon, took a tour of the wine country on another day and soared over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter on another. “The only thing that we didn’t do is ride in a blimp,” she said, adding that her son documented the entire trip in a vacation journal.”

It’s easy to default to keeping our work and life in separate buckets. But I have found that integrating them makes for a more fulfilling life.

Work-life balance is a misnomer, but work-life integration can be deeply fulfilling. I recently developed a new training program to help other working professionals learn how to achieve this.

Thank you for all of your support and especially for your trust! If I have been helpful to your career journey, could you please let me know?

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