Hustler's At Home : Lauren Swidenbank

Welcome to our new series ‘Hustlers at Home’ where we highlight the incredible Hustlers in our community who continue to Hustle whilst working from home. The next 5 weeks, our focus is all about how we can support our community who are working from home with tips, inspiration for their body, mind & business.

A conversation with Lauren Swidenbank at Cali Social

What do you do:
We create and manage paid ad campaigns for luxury ecommerce brands (Facebook, Instagram & Google ads)

How do you start your morning?
I wake up at 5.30am every morning and I’m out the door by 6.30am to drive into the office (yay for city traffic!) My goal is to be able to have slower mornings so that I can practise a morning routine that includes exercise and journaling!

Tea or coffee?
Coffee all the way!

What are your top 3 values?
Delight, Play, Stability

How do your values shape your life & work?
I love to delight, so you will find me curating the best customer service experience possible! Communication is extensive and often, clients receive beautiful gifts when they partner with Cali as well as on their Birthday’s and holidays! I think there is a gift in remembering and noting down important dates and information related to clients – surprising them is always worth it. Play is a huge one in life and work as it fills me up and replenishes all my lost energy! Stability has been key in practising good mental health as I have learnt I don’t do too well with uncertain and sporadic schedules!

What does home mean to you?
Home is my sanctuary that I share with my Husband and our dog Nala. It’s somewhere I can truly be myself, sweats and no make up are mandatory! Somewhere that I go back to and relax after long days in the office.

What do you love doing at home?
I love to cook, I’m fortunate to have a big kitchen so can really spread out and get creative! I also love to sit out in the back garden on a weekend morning eating breakfast with my Husband, as it gets the beautiful morning sun.

What book or podcasts are inspiring you right now?
I’m currently reading a (very old!) book called Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz. It was written in 1966, but the foundations and principles of the book remain the same today. Sometimes we think that in this day and age, marketing campaigns have to be wildly new and creative, sometimes they really don’t. This book is an important reminder of that!

Podcasts I am loving right now are ‘Your CEO Mentor’ for leadership advice and ‘Mindset Mentor’ for personal development/mindset listening.

What does your nightly wind down routine look like?
My nightly routine is far better than my morning routine! I really enjoy sleep and always have at least 8/9 hours sleep per night, that is my non-negotiable and anything less impacts my mood and focus the next day. I will eat dinner with my Husband, then walk the dog by the water, come home and usually watch something funny on TV. If I’ve had a particularly stressful/full-on day I will meditate and run a bath, then hop into bed with a good book. I’m aiming to make better decisions with my phone usage at night – currently I don’t use my phone in the hour leading up to sleep, but I want to extend this to make sure I’m spending quality time with both myself and my Husband.