Balancing kids and work with senior graphic designer Nicko Phillips

You’re a Dad with two kids and a full on workload at Linktree; that’s a lot. How do you stay on top of it all?

Linktree has been really family-friendly. I’ve had meetings with a five year old kid just sitting on my lap and nobody blinks an eye. I’ll have the two year old watching his shows on my second screen while I’m doing a branding presentation, and people actually love meeting the kids! 

I have a big belief that we should work to support our passions, whether those passions are for people or for the things that make life worth living. For me, that’s my family. Linktree makes space for my kids, and we all feel like we’re a part of something here.

Let’s talk about that work-life balance. Do you have any advice on how to make it possible?

Balance is something that my wife and I are really conscious of. We try to give each other time throughout the day to go and have a bit of time to ourselves because otherwise it gets to the end of the working week and you’re just exhausted.

It’s been really great how proactive and encouraging Linktree have been. We’ve got apps for meditation, we have social events where we can spend time with the team remotely, we’re even encouraged and given access to counselling if we need it. This month, everyone in the company was sent a clay making kit and we’re all getting on Zoom to make something crazy together.

If your employer is putting balance front and center it makes anything possible.

Can you tell us about the work you do at Linktree, and how you bring it to life?

I’m the senior graphic designer, and I dabble with a bit of art direction and copywriting as well. When you’re working in a startup, you have to go in with a collaborative mindset and be prepared to mix it up with what you do. Wherever there’s an idea or a piece of work I can contribute to, I want to be a part of that.

Something that’s been a big influence in a lot of my career to date is just trying to do work that has a human element that resonates with people and solves their individual problems in a way that is caring, empathetic and joyful.

I think it’s really important to inject a bit of humor or a bit of fidelity or personality or, you know, highlights flaws, even just something that sort of is able to resonate with an audience. So that’s where I’m sort of coming from.

You’ve joined Linktree remotely. Does that make a difference to the way you live, work and stay sane?

I have so much more free time working remotely. There’s no commute every day, so I get to spend a lot more time with my family and help out more, cooking dinners and enabling remote learning, even just getting the washing done (which is never ending when you’ve got two young kids!) 

But on the flip side, I have the opportunity to get into focus mode in my own space and make my work happen in my own way. There’s a deeper level of productivity you can unlock when you can even out your time like this. 

Honestly? I think we’re going to change the rules around how workplaces are supposed to be run, and I love being a part of that. 

What’s the core belief and philosophy behind your work?

We have such a strong humanistic element. We’ve built a piece of software that is changing the way people use the internet; but it’s the people that matter, and the tools have to serve them.

It means that transparency has become our badge of honor. If a user has an issue or if there’s a problem with the product, it’s not covered up or deleted or anything like that. We make it a priority to consider it, to solve it and to take every opportunity to share what we’ve done and why.

When a new challenge appears it can be easy to get overwhelmed and a little bit cloudy about the best outcome. But once you take a step back and question how you can best serve the user and operate with transparency, the solution is always going to stand out loud and clear. 

💡  Okay. So after getting to know the team and the mission, I want to ask one more question. Why should someone join the team at Linktree?

This is a company where the user is front of mind in every decision that we make. We have a simple product that’s easy to use, but behind the scenes there are so many awesome people who are masters of their field, and every one of us is dedicated to building the best user experience on the planet. If that’s a mission you believe in, there’s no better reason to come on board. 

Do you want to be part of a company that’s innovating (or disrupting) the way brands, artists and creators connect with their audience? We’re looking for creative people that want to help us grow and change the future of marketing!