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CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Self-made millionaire's daily routine: Waking up at 4:45 a.m., sending emails during bedtime—hard work is a requirement 'to be successful'
Emma Grede has co-founded multiple companies, works as the CEO of one of them, was the first Black woman to be an investor on ABC's "Shark Tank" and has an estimated net worth of $405 million. A calculated daily routine helps Grede stay productive without sacrificing self-care, she said on a May 12 podcast episode of "The Skinny Confidential Him and Her." "I'm pretty regimented with my routine and, because I have four kids, that's the only way I can do it," said Grede, 42, the co-founder and CEO of apparel brand Good American. "I'm very, very, very militant about not picking up my phone first thing [in the morning] ... So I'm like, what do I need to do today? What's important to me? And what do I think before I start getting messages from the world, from the news, from social [media]?" Grede, who also co-founded apparel brand Skims and cleaning product company Safely, starts each day at 4:35 a.m., grabbing a cup of coffee before heading downstairs to her home gym, she said. She does a 90-minute workout five days per week, she said: "[It's] the only time no one's asking anything of me. That's like my meditation time ... I'm in my own space."From there, she gets her four kids ready for school, makes breakfast and corrals everyone at the table by 7:30 so they can spend at least 20 minutes together as a family before they go their separate ways for the day. By 8:30, Grede is at her office in California for a day of "back to back to back" meetings, she said. The companies that she's operationally involved in — like Skims, Good American and Safely — are based in the same building, added Grede, who was named a CNBC Changemaker on February 24. Grede gets home each day around 5:30 p.m., she said — then it's dinner, bath time and bed time for her kids. About three nights each week, she'll attend a work dinner or gathering with friends, get home and answer more emails before meditating, reading and turning in for the night, she said. Staying busy, both personally and professionally, works for her, she said: "You have to work really, really, really, really, really hard if you want to be successful ... I'm a furious organizer and scheduler. I try to make the most of every single thing I'm doing." Grede's routine contains elements of timeboxing, where you spend a specific amount of time tackling a task on your to-do list and stick to it. Highly successful people from Richard Branson to Michelle Obama have used the scheduling method to lead more productive lives. Some experts particularly recommend scheduling time for dedicated focus, and breaks, into your calendar each day. It's "really critical" for productivity, Slack senior vice president of research and analytics Christina Janzer told CNBC Make It on Jan. 8, 2024. For Grede, the idea is more simply to pack her workdays tightly enough to balance productivity and personal happiness outside the office, she said. "When you're someone like me that, all day, people are taking [from you] ... I can't wait for someone to come and give something to me. I have to do that part for myself," said Grede. "I have to find those moments in my day because it ain't coming otherwise."
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Self-made millionaire: Remote work is fine, unless you're 'deeply ambitious'—'proximity' helped me succeed
For serial entrepreneur Emma Grede, being "deeply ambitious" means working in-person five days per week. Grede, a co-founder of apparel brands Skims and Good American, has an estimated $405 million net worth, according to Forbes — and her work ethic was shaped by working in the office everyday during her early career, she said on a May 12 podcast episode of "The Skinny Confidential Him and Her." If you work at Good American, where Grede is the CEO, you're expected to be in the office every weekday, she added. Grede, 42, "learned from proximity" when she was younger, she said. She sat near her boss in meetings, writing down "every phrase that would come out of her mouth," she said. When she had to make calls, she'd repeat what her boss said, learning from her word choice, cadence and presence. "How are you learning if you're not, like, in it [and] on the job? We know some jobs need more proximity than others, but I'm in the product business ... If you're not in the room, you're not able to do that at an excellent level," said Grede, who was named a CNBC Changemaker on February 24. In addition to her apparel brands, Grede is also a co-founder of cleaning product brand Safely and an occasional guest Shark on ABC's "Shark Tank." "I have businesses that are relatively young and it requires people that come every day with 100%, put everything in and leave nothing on the table," she said. "I think I make it quite clear that if you're a three-day-a-week person, that's totally fine, it just doesn't work here. It doesn't work for me." When circumstances require hybrid work, like a mom returning to her job after having a baby, Grede makes accommodations, she said. "We want to create the conditions for ambitious people to be successful and that might mean, at certain points in their career, they need a different set-up," said Grede. "But ... for those starting out, for most people in the company, we have to be [in person] five days a week." Many employees tout the benefits of hybrid work, according to 2023 Gallup data: 76% said they had improved work-life balance, 64% said they used their time more efficiently and 61% said they experienced less burnout or fatigue at work. A minority of workers in the same data set noted a few downsides. Twenty-eight percent said they felt less connected to their organizations, 24% said they had decreased collaboration with their teams and 21% said they had impaired working relationships with their team members. If you're a boss who struggles with the idea of remote work because you think your employees aren't as productive from home, you can offer them trainings to help them communicate more effectively online and get the most out of hybrid meetings, Lucid Software CEO Dave Grow told CNBC Make It on June 21, 2024. The fact that "executives who are often the ones setting the policy still have a relatively high level of dissatisfaction is indicative that we have not gotten to the right end state" of hybrid workplaces, said Grow, whose company makes digital collaboration tools. Of course, if your employees want to be in the office every weekday, there's little reason to stop them. "There's a lot of different ways that people come to work and there [are] always exceptions to every rule, because otherwise, you're not running a modern business," Grede said.
