10. Hustle While You Work, with Femke van Schoonhoven

Femke talks to us about her many creative projects, traveling more than the average person and why hustling makes her happy.

Show Notes

Femke is a freelance designer at her design studio, The Apartment. You can probably tell by her very strange accent that she is from New Zealand. Or maybe you guessed Australia—either way… it’s okay! In addition, she co-hosts a podcast for motivating creators called Design Life and works a day-job at Atomic. Super busy with a lot of great stuff!

So, what makes Femke happy? If she had to boil it down to just one thing, it would be hustling. Outside of her day job she has a lot of side projects which, ultimately fulfill her as a creative person and make her very happy.

“Hustle to me means doing your best work and helping, not only yourself, but also others.”, she tells us. To Femke, this includes learning things, teaching what you know, sharing your experiences and working really hard on the things you’re super passionate about. She has a long term vision of the things that she wants to accomplish in her lifetime and hustles now to make sure she has a better shot at those achievements later.

“Every journey has a destination, which is something that we strive for. But, for me it’s also a lot about the journey to get there and finding enjoyment through that as well.”

Will she be hustling thirty years from now? Of course! She can’t sit still! Femke needs to have something to do and a project in her hands at all times. Retirement sounds like it could be relaxing, she admits, but she personally doesn’t know what she would do with herself. The idea of always being on the go moves her.

“Wait. People take Sundays off?” Femke wouldn’t know. The weekends are her time to work on side projects. Eventually, Femke would like to work on her own, but for now, working a day job she enjoys means coming home and enjoying her side projects instead of viewing them as a chore.

Travel also makes Femke happy. Sometimes for work, sometimes for pleasure, but she’s almost certain she travels more than the average person. And, you guessed it, she hustles even when she goes on vacation! She’s trying to make it a goal to leave the work at home and give her mind a vacation next time, too.

Moving on to the topic of Design Life, Femke and fellow co-host Charlie’s podcast was born from the need for a female-hosted, design-themed podcast. The idea behind the project is not to be an authority on design, but to share concepts and their own creative growth along the way. She shares that the topics she covers along with the audience help motivate her hustle.

Among all of the things she does, however, no one project motivates her more than the other. In fact, she enjoys how different they are and how each one allows her to use a different creative skill.

And if she could take tomorrow off and not hustle, what would she do that makes her happy? Ride her bike through park. It helps her clear her mind.

Femke is most active on Twitter. There you can find links to her podcast and website. She hopes something she said inspired you. P.s. Her happy word Love.