In this video, Andy Blackman Hurwitz explains how he combines business with family life. The difficulty of the video is quite high, and it is more suitable for advanced rather than intermediate students, but I bet that with the help of the questions intermediate students can understand the general idea.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 Andy went to law school.
2 Music has always been Andy's passion.
3 Andy has five employees and works in an office now.
4 Andy communicates with lots of people from all over the world.
5 Technology is essential for Andy's work.
6 Baby Dance Disco is a dance that started in New York.
7 Andy feels a fortunate man.
8 Andy has worked hard to be where he is now.
You can read the transcript below.
I went to law school, fairly successful, but in my heart it sort of felt that there was something lacking, and then I had a choice, I was at crossroads to get another legal job or something else. Music was always my passion, and my kids inspired me so much, and then I decided I’m going to put my two passions of music and kids together. And when I made that decision to put this suit away and just jump off into this whole other world, it was extremely liberating and exciting.
I have no office, technically, I have no employees. All I have is my network. If I didn’t have the ability to stay connected, I wouldn’t be in business. But I have moms that I work with all over the world. I’m able to talk to somebody in China and communicate with these people that I would never be able to meet face-to-face, there’s absolutely no way I could be doing what I’m doing without technology.
This is Baby Loves Disco, the original dance party that started in Philadelphia, eight years ago. We travel the country, we travel the world, but right now we’re here today.
I never in a million years thought I’d be the disco daddy. It wasn’t like I said, hey, let’s have a family business, everyone pick a job. They were inspired enough, so one by one sort of volunteer and so. It’s what we like to do together, and that’s what makes it great for us.
I am a minor success story and that I’m living my life by my own rules. I wake up with my kids. We eat breakfast together every morning. We play after school. I coach their teams. I don’t like to think like, oh, I’m so great, because I get to be home with my kids, I feel just blessed to be in that position.
The balance of family and at work is something that we all aspire towards, and I’m fortunate enough to have that balance. But it took a lifetime of hard work, dedication and sacrifice to get to that point.
I am Andy Blackman Hurwitz, and I live my life without limits.
Key:
1T 2T 3F 4T 5T 6F 7T 8T
