The 4 Jobs Club: How Smart Women Care for It All: Kids, Aging Parents, Home and Career

by Kathryn Sollmann

JOIN THE CLUB!

Whether you're managing a multi-million-dollar division or contributing to a small team, blending work and life over the course of a career takes creativity, organization, cutting yourself slack, exploring strategies and asking for help.

Plan Work and Life from Your Heart

Let fifty of the world's most successful professional women show you how they too care simultaneously for kids, aging parents, households and careers. They each share simple strategies developed through every life stage and career level, whilst managing these 4 big jobs - all with sanity, good humor and grace.

Be True to Your Professional DNA

Career coach Kathryn Sollmann helps smart women integrate work and life, in her mission to keep women working towards long-term financial security. Through conducting this series of interviews she has compiled over 200 simple tips that will help you persevere and keeping moving forwards in your professional life.

These relatively easy, yet powerful tips are from women who have found non-life-shattering trade-offs, practiced anti-perfection, used short-cuts, got help, and set up systems for household equity.

THE 4 JOBS CLUB is the place where you will find the help and wisdom you need to pursue work that fits your life and be the professional, mother, daughter, and life partner you want to be.

Join the 4 Jobs Club community at /the-4-jobs-club.mn.co/

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2025

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this book for one of my best friends and I so we can read together from 1000 miles away. We met weekly and reviewed a few chapters at a time. It was a great experience.

As women, I do agree on all the jobs (elder care being the hardest) we take on. This book had a lot of info that served as good reminders but there were some nuggets of great advice that I added to my action plan.

[Uzoamaka · Rating 4 out of 5]

When over 50 women who are working mothers have something to say about work, life, career, partnership and ageing parents, you listen. The advice spanned a wide range and style of women from different industries and sectors but at the top of their game. I really loved how much autonomy these women had and how they empower you to to have the power to make and change your life. the chapters were interesting as you can read in no particular order which made it great to leaf through, definitely one boo kI'd love to own and gift.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched, well written and well organized book with over 200 tips from C-level women on how to manage the 4 Jobs of managing career, home, kids, and aging parents.

[Nicole Heinichen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as a work assignment. Not really relatable at this phase of my life.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has so much potential with access to so many C suit women. However it does not have depths and it reads more like many articles put together.

[A Bookworm Crafts · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts with a very lengthy section providing the biographies of the women interviewed. The subsequent sections are must more practical, providing support on how to navigate life at the office when you also have caring duties, how to be as organised as possible at home, how to ask for help when needed (both from your immediate circle, outsourcing, and insourcing to your family), and how to adjust your mindset to avoid perfectionism and prioritise self care.

While this book does contain some valuable insights, the format didn't really work for me. I was initially put off by the biographies at the beginning of the book, which nearly made me give up reading it all together. The rest of the book is split up in short thematic chapters with main insights in bold followed by examples of how different women implemented it. I personally prefer more of a practical approach with a mix of solutions I can apply, but if you like to build your own systems using other people's experiences as inspiration then this would be perfect for you.

A recommended read for fans of Fair Play and Lean In and women looking to juggle career and family.

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Risa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Actionable, thoughtful, and empathetic advice without the forced "you an absolutely do it all" narrative that I think we were all fed over the last two decades.

A couple things that take away from the rating:
- The opening with biographies was jarring and I would have preferred them be included at the end, with page references noted within the anecdotes as they appear.
- It ends at an odd place. There isn't really a conclusion - it just... ends.

Otherwise, for a woman in her early 30s, with a toddler and a demanding professional career, this was a refreshing take on how to navigate all the areas of life.

[Kaitlin Wojnar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not typically a fan of professional development books, but this was a great read. Very approachable format, and good nuggets of advice no matter where you are personally/professionally.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to The 4 Jobs Club where women juggle caring for children, aging parents, home, and career while not forgetting to care for themselves.

I became a first-time mom this year—straight to having twins! I was desperate to find a new balance in life while doing my best to do it all. I wish I had found this book earlier, but still, it's never too late to read it.

The 4 Jobs Club uncovers the experiences of 50 C-suite (aka extremely hardworking, ambitious, and busy) women and presents over 200 practical tips that you can apply right now. The book's author, Kathryn Sollmann, is an active member of this "club" herself. She raised two daughters while continuing to achieve her professional goals.

I liked how easy it is to read the book as the issues discussed are topical. I found some solutions extremely helpful and insightful, and I will apply them in my own life.

The only disadvantage of this book for me is its structure. The 4 Jobs Club is divided into two parts: the information about the women whom Kathryn Sollmann interviewed for the book, and the tips themselves. When I first picked up the book, I didn't know what kind of tips I would find in it, so reading about the women who provided them seemed pointless. It was way more interesting and insightful to read more about several of the interviewees after completing the second part of the book. The part with the tips also had its flaws for me. The list of tips at the beginning of each chapter encourages quickly skimming through the list without delving into the chapter itself. However, the information provided in these paragraphs is beneficial.

At some point closer to the end of the book, I felt that it covers only one topic—women need to ask and accept help from others in order to be successful. At first, this thought was annoying, but after a couple of days of contemplating the book, I realized that the author put the correct amount of stress on it because we women drastically lack this skill, even if we decide to take a step back from work and dedicate some time to navigating the family through a hard time (either due to happy or sad events).

I recommend this book not only to mothers but to all women and men to get a better look at the lives of working mothers.

If not for the book's structure, I would rate it 4.5 stars.

I appreciate NetGalley and John Murray Business for providing an early copy.