How to balance travel, a career & motherhood
At Boundless Life, we talk to dozens of families who dream of travelling the world and creating a different learning environment for their children. Within our Boundless Conversations series, I will be interviewing many remarkable families that have taken the leap toward their dreams to travel the world. We discuss their journey, the challenges they have overcome, and seek practical advice that could help you take that leap too!
In honour of International Women’s Day, I decided to interview one of our fantastic “boss moms” living the Boundless Life in Sintra, Portugal.
Introducing Michelle Schomp - entrepreneur, healthy lifestyle advocate, full-time wife, and mother of two beautiful children - Henley and Jagger.
With another baby on the way, and the fact that she is an avid traveller, I couldn’t help but wonder, how on Earth does she do it?
Professional Background
I started off by asking the basics AKA “What do you do for a living?” to which she happily responded that she and her husband are both business owners. Whereas Jake Schomp focuses on consulting and I.T., Michelle works as a direct sales business owner for Beauty Counter - “a leading skincare movement to a future where all beauty is clean beauty.”
Over the past six years, Michelle has been growing her business while enjoying the perks of scheduling flexibility, the absence of carrying any inventory, and complete freedom to travel the world while working. This mama is a passionate advocate for healthy living and is highly enthusiastic about what products go in and out of her body as well as her children’s.
Work-Life Balance
With my newly found knowledge of Michelle being a full-time business owner and mother, my next question was obvious. I asked her how she approached her thinking of having a career and partaking in motherly duties while travelling simultaneously. Michelle’s answer was simple and the confidence exuded in her response was nothing short of admirable.
“When I first became pregnant with Henley, I knew that I wanted to be extremely present in my children’s lives. That being said, I did not want to lose my educational background, passion for healthy living, and/or my career. I decided then and there that I would create a lifestyle for myself and my family that was proficient in balance. I would wield a career that offers flexibility and allows me to continue using the side of my brain that radiates passion while also being present for my children and not missing all of the important events and milestones.”
Michelle’s solution to creating this balance is slow travelling. This ever-growing and responsible way of travelling essentially slows down your travel plans and allows you to stay in one place for a longer period of time. With kids, this is the stress-free way to go which also offers more stability and the chance for the whole family to fully experience a destination with all of its culture and authenticity. (Read our blog The Joy of Slow Travelling for more information).
Travelling at a slower pace gives Michelle and Jake the opportunity to be in close quarters with their children. Contrary to popular belief, instead of the regular 9 to 5 which usually involves a stressful and time-consuming commute, slow travelling actually gives this family more time to be together. Through this method of travel, the Schomp parents are glad to not have stressful vacation itineraries, constant packing and unpacking, and the overall anxiety of rushing to get to places.
A Day in the Life for the Schomp Family
With Boundless Life, the Schomp family has moved into a more structured routine that according to Michelle, is perfect for this particular time in their lives.
Henley and Jagger wake up ecstatic to start their day - and get this - they actually make breakfast for the whole family! This gives Michelle and Jake a chance to sleep in while their kids get hands-on culinary experience while creating the most important meal of the day. Promptly after breakfast, the awesome foursome walk to school together. The kids enjoy the short-minute walk to the Education Centre and once they arrive they excitedly run off to meet their friends while Michelle and Jake take a few moments to socialize with the other parents.
After dropping off the kids, the happy couple either head to yoga or enjoy a long morning walk. After some physical activity, they head their separate ways to get some alone time either by heading to the Co-Working Hub or back to their apartment and begin to grind. Once satisfied with the amount of work done, Michelle will head over to the local organic fruit and veggie stand to gather ingredients for dinner. After picking up the kids and heading home, Michelle happily spoke of Henley and Jagger tossing their backpacks at their feet, and running off to play with their friends. Every evening the family has dinner together and spend the rest of the day either reading, playing games, finishing up more work, or simply spending quality time together.
During downtime and on the weekends, the Schomp family explores Portugal. They either participate in excursions and hikes or stop by local restaurants, cafes, shops and more.
The Impact of Boundless Life
Just by listening to Michelle’s daily routine and how blissful her life in Portugal seems, I couldn’t help but be envious! I was curious to know if traveling with her kids for the past six years has always been like this, and proceeded to ask “how has your life changed since starting with Boundless Life?”
“I think that what Boundless is giving us is this opportunity for our kids to have their social circles and to also have an alternative education which is very important to us - a more 21st-century mindset that is not the traditional school but taking elements of the traditional school system that does work in today's world. For Jake and I, it’s giving us community too, we love to be social. It’s giving us the space to grow our businesses and have time to work. Because of how Boundless is set up it allows us to do all those things; explore as a family in a new destination, get excited about all these new foods but still have dinner together, still have our social time, and still have time to work. It’s important for me to have my thing - build my business and have my kids see how important it is to me.”
“Henley and Jagger were only ages 1 and 3 when we sold our house and began travelling internationally. The children were world schooled in several different countries. However, now that the kids are at an age where they need more social interaction - Boundless Life has become the perfect fit for us.”
Michelle gushed at how happy the kids are to go to school and have their social interactions while she and her husband can actually get some work done whereas typically they would only begin to work once the children were asleep. With Boundless, Michelle has much more time to do what she loves and enjoys having a balance for her and her family.
The Children’s Perspective
After Michelle emphasised how happy Henley and Jagger seemed with their new lives in Portugal, I asked her to expand on their perspective on having a life full of travel and adventure. The glowing mom told me that as the kids started travelling at extremely early ages, this life is all they’d ever known. Both kids have never had their own bedrooms and this is simply a result of how they have grown up. However, she made an extremely insightful statement that is definitely something that will stick with me for a long time.
“Children mimic their parents. The more positive you are about things, the more positive they are going to be. If you don’t like broccoli and make a disgusted face every time you eat it, your kids aren’t going to like it either. If you’re not going to try new and healthy foods, they aren’t going to want to either. But if you are happy to do these things, that excitement passes down, and I think that’s what makes our kids so adaptable. Jake and I get so excited for the plane ride and the journey, and although the kids are now like hundreds of flights into their lives, every single time there is a travel day they get up so excited in the morning, but that’s because we as adults get excited! My kids don’t mind the change at all. They may sometimes get sad to leave a certain place, but at the same time they are excited about the next adventure.”
Proudest Achievements
After receiving more insight into the admirable life of Michelle Schomp, I was curious to know what she thought her greatest accomplishment was since for me it seemed like her entire life would make the cut. Her answer however was as humble and as modest as could be: self-reflection and happiness.
Michelle explained that stepping away from how society showed her life is supposed to be, truly understanding what makes her happy, and then acting upon it has to be her proudest achievement. She believes that building a lifestyle around what makes her and her kids happy while also finding a way to earn an income, have a flexible schedule, not be micromanaged, and do what she loves while travelling is definitely something to be proud of. I couldn’t agree more.
She told me how six years ago she actually wasn’t sure if her business would survive or how she would make it work. Although many people plan this particular lifestyle months and sometimes years in advance, Michelle’s journey began very quickly when she simply made the decision with her partner that a life full of travel and freedom was the life for them.
“Being able to grow my business while simultaneously living the life I want to live - not waiting until I retire, not waiting till I get to a certain point, but doing it now in this very moment, is what I consider the biggest achievement for my family. I’ve been able to grow my business while seeing 50+ countries with my kids and visiting all the continents. And the thing is, I never really planned for it. I simply felt a switch in my life that I wanted to do something different, and there is no better time than now. When I began to travel, I thought we’d be travelling for three months, but that soon turned into six months, then a year, then two years - now it’s been six years!”
Advice for Travelling Career Moms
Although I was sad to have our conversation come to an end as this woman was beyond inspiring, I had to end it with the question which I knew would extract the most inspiring answer for all the women out there who aspire to travel while working with their kids.
“What advice would you give to women who are balancing a career, family, and travel?”. Michelle didn’t hesitate to answer. “Social stigma”, she said.
Michelle elaborated on this statement and spoke of the pressure many women feel to live a certain way in order to appease a particular small-minded population. She advised that like-minded individuals should separate what makes them happy from what society demands.
As we got deeper into the conversation around societal norms, Michelle expressed how happy she was to come across the Boundless Life community.
“Honestly I found it so interesting with Boundless. I’ve travelled a lot elsewhere, but with Boundless I definitely witnessed a lot of different ways that digital nomads are making this lifestyle work whether it is owning their own businesses, freelancing, working remotely for various companies, etc. This lifestyle is definitely not some “hippy-trying-to-escape-life type of situation, but very much so ordinary people thinking outside of the box and doing what makes them tick!”
Michelle never wanted to work in an office, so she never accepted an office job. She was extremely aware of the fact that she wanted freedom, flexibility, and endless opportunity. She also made a point to say that everyone is different, and it’s not up to her to say what everyone should do, but of course, she ended off with the most profound statement.
“I think at the end of the day it’s all about self-reflection. What’s important to you, what values you hold close, and what values your family holds close. For me personally, it was that balance, but more than a 9 to 5 balance. It had to be that ultimate freedom and flexibility, and I knew I had it within me to manage my time with my business, be consistent with it and show up. I saw the potential in having a business, earning an income, as well as having the social responsibility that comes from Beauty Counter.”
My conversation with Michelle Schomp was nothing short of inspirational. I hope reading her story will inspire many to not wait for retirement but begin living their lives now! Just like Michelle stated, Boundless Life is making the transition simple for families to live abroad while doing what they love and ensuring that their children receive the most forward-thinking education possible!
Be sure to follow Michelle on Instagram @michelleschomp to witness her incredible journey while also receiving tips on non-toxic living, beauty, skincare, world schooling, travelling, motherhood, and so much more!
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