How We Built Our Dream Company

—by Meredith Monday Schwartz, CEO of Here Comes The Guide

Our mission at Here Comes The Guide is to create a company that provides smart, driven women and individuals with a meaningful career that feeds them.

But we believe that you can do meaningful work whilst also having true work/life balance.

It’s harder than we thought to find that kind of company in the world—one that values both the work and the lives, health, and families of its workforce—so we decided to build it ourselves.

So what does work/life balance look like in practice?

The 5-day workweek is a relic of the 20th century. And, more than that, it’s a relic of a time when traditional gender roles were more rigidly defined. It used to be that men managed a 5-day workweek because they most often had a woman at home handling the children and the home-related tasks and chores.

That’s not our diverse world today—and the workweek needs to change to reflect that.

By instituting our 4-day workweek, we support our employees' need for more time. Time to do anything they need to do in any way they want to do it. Time for themselves, time to catch up on home-related tasks, time for their side hustle, time with their significant other. However they spend it, it means that they are fueled up mentally, physically, and emotionally to do clear, focused work Monday through Thursday.

And yes, we pay a full (40-hour) salary for the 4-day (32-hour) workweek.

Why? Because we’re making more money now than we ever did before. That’s what a refreshed staff can do.

Every member of our team understands that life happens. So, when we have an employee who has a sick kiddo or needs to take their mom to a doctor’s appointment, that employee is not going to face harsh judgment from their manager. They’re going to receive understanding and support. We foster a heart-forward culture where we drop everything to help each other in the workplace, or with a personal conundrum.

You have a family emergency? You’re going to get solid advice for managing the situation—not a dressing down for not being at work.

Why? Because I know my people will be back at their desks the minute they can be, giving their all to their clients. But in that moment, they need to prioritize their personal lives—and we’re here to assist them in doing so. Anything else wouldn’t align with our values.

We provide our team with the tools to work remotely, whether it's from home, a park, or a nearby coffee shop—wherever they can be most productive. That looks like laptops and earbuds and plenty of snazzy office supplies to tick off those to-do lists.

It means covering costs (and helping prepare) when there’s a new addition to the family. We pride ourselves on being a great place to be a working parent. And that means we take family leave seriously to make things as easy as possible. We have planning programs and mentors ready for when our employees need to get ready for their time with their new little one.

And, we are so happy to be able to provide 6 weeks of paid family leave (encompassing all forms of leave taken for the birth or adoption of a child) with continued payment of medical insurance during this time. We also structure the “return to work” phase in a way that is customized to the staffer, including a tiered schedule that makes things much easier during the transition back to work.

Why? Because it shouldn’t be difficult to bring a new life into the world and keep the job you love.

Yes, we make our money by wedding venues paying us to advertise on our site. But our approach is very different from most sales-based businesses.

We train our staff to never prioritize making an invoice—but only to think about building an authentic relationship with each venue. And we train them to listen to what each venue needs. If that's our advertising services, great. We can do that. But sometimes, it's not. And our staff is empowered to know the difference and act accordingly.

We have a no-commission structure for this reason. Our employees don't have to worry about their paychecks. They can instead focus on what is truly good for their clients.

This means our people know how much they'll make each month and can plan their lives accordingly. There's no end-of-month guessing game.

Why? We don't want our sales team to Always Be Closing. They can lead with their hearts. And for this group, there's no greater joy.

One thing that our 4-day workweek provides is a great opportunity to pursue a side hustle. I’m a huge believer in side hustles (I have a book podcast that I love!) and so, as CEO, I want to encourage that in my employees.

So, my team of Side Hustlers and I will meet up to talk about each individual’s project and we’ll brainstorm ways to get to whatever success looks like for that individual staffer. We are there for each other every step of the way and we are delighted by each other’s successes.

Why? I believe that side hustles, whether for fun or for cash (or both!) sharpen our saws, bring us new skills, help us gain confidence, and make us better at our job at Here Comes The Guide.

We take our mission of providing a fantastic workplace for smart, driven individuals very seriously, as you can see. And we are so proud to have built a company that is a model for what we think companies should look like in the world.