Building Your Business & Your Life Around the Things You Care About - Looks Like Work, Season 1, Ep 1
Some people keep work and life in separate boxes. Hamutal Schieber burned the boxes and used the ashes as compost.
In our inaugural episode, Hamutal—CEO and founder of Schieber Research—invites us into a life that refuses to be compartmentalized. She’s a lawyer-turned-market researcher who didn’t “find her calling” through a grand plan, but through a friend’s project that sparked curiosity and never stopped. Now she helps global companies spot what’s next by decoding competitors, startups, consumers, and macro trends.
She predicted stress-free living before it was a marketing slogan, saw the gut-health boom coming, and understands why oat milk isn’t about vegans—it’s about digestion, status, and the quiet thrill of having your thing.
But this conversation isn’t about trendspotting. It’s about integration. For Hamutal, work, fitness, family, and cooking are anchors, not competing priorities. There’s no “work-life balance” to maintain because there’s no separation to begin with. And yet, she’s brutally clear about the millennial trap: loving your work so much you bury yourself in it.
We talk about:
Finding a career through curiosity, not a 10-year plan
Predicting major shifts in how we live, eat, and spend
The four pillars of understanding the future
Why “work hard, play hard” is the worst life advice
Managing burnout through Ayurveda and knowing your fire (pitta dosha, if you’re asking)
Building a thriving business while raising four kids and still finding time for a Peloton ride
Recruiting for a role where you have to love data—and loneliness
And then there’s her anchor question. The one she asks herself all day, every day:
👉 “Why am I doing this?”
It’s the kind of question that can change a client strategy and make you shut the laptop at midnight instead of doom-working. The kind that keeps you tethered to purpose when the to-do list tries to pull you under.
Hamutal’s story is proof that you can build a business that feels like your life—not something you fit your life around. That sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is dissolve the boundaries everyone else assumes are there.
"I can't say I wish I would be able to work a few hours a day because I love my work and when I don't have work to do... I find work because I'm interested in what I'm doing."
Listen to this episode on Spotify | Apple | Wherever you get your podcasts
Resources & Mentions:
Follow Hamutal on Instagram & LinkedIn
Follow Schieber Research on Facebook & their website
Catch up on previous seasons of Looks Like Work wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify | Apple | Podbean
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Check out The Curiosity Lab and CuriosityGPT
