'What's going on?': Former NRL star's bill problem sparks unexpected career move with wife Kate
By Jo Abi|
Kate Morgan and Kirk Reynoldson met in the late '90s at 'schoolies' in Queensland before Kirk became a professional ?NRL player.
Kate knew of Kirk's ambitions and loved seeing him make his dreams come true, first with the Newcastle Knights, then the Melbourne Storm and later with St George Illawarra.
"Kirk always said that he wanted to play NRL before we got married," Kate tells 9Honey. "I think he was playing for about three months at the Melbourne Storm before he asked me to marry him.
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"We have both been together since the early days and I got to experience all the fun of seeing him go through all the NRL adventure. It wasn't until after he retired, went to university and did an economics degree, and I was working as a dietitian in the food industry that we started to have kids."
The pair became parents later in life, and can't believe how different each of their children's personalities are.
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"Our our eldest child, the firstborn, I think is quite a typical firstborn," Kate explains. "She was routine from the early days. She's a very caring soul and she's very smart."
Kirk says ?says their eldest is "all mum."
Their second "came out screaming and crying and hasn't really stopped since" his mum shares.
Their youngest started out as "the most chill of all their kids as a baby" but has since been on "an upward trajectory of naughtiness," Kate shares.?
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?"He's in his terrible twos at the moment and he causes us all a bit of grief," she says. "He bit one of the other kids in the back of the car this morning."
It doesn't sound like an ideal situation for a three-month road trip, but Kate and Kirk are planning one anyway.
The family of five will embark on the adventure in the US to coincide with the American launch of their organisational app Eggy.
"The kids are very excited about the prospect of going to this big new place," she shares. "And they're up for the adventure. I'm sure that it's not going to be without its moments."
Kirk says "the jury's out" when it comes to what vehicle they'll choose for their adventure although if he has his way, it will be a decked out bus.?
"There's a couple of nice bus conversions that are really cheap," he says.
Kate's preference is something "that's a little bit more livable."
"So we try to meet in the middle somewhere," he says.
"And they're up for the adventure. I'm sure that it's not going to be without its moments."
Kate describes herself as "the more naturally organised person" in their relationship but the do split their life admin, housework and parenting duties "pretty much 50/50."
It was the juggle of raising their three children that sparked the idea to design the ultimate family organisation app Eggy.?
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"Eggy actually came from a problem that we were experiencing ourselves when we started having kids," she says. "We just had stuff everywhere. We had bills and emails and multiple calendars.
"We had a pile of papers on the kitchen bench and we had Cloud drives with everything in it and we just went, 'What's going on? Why can't all of this just be easier and we just have it all in one place?"
At the same time they read a book by neuroscientist Daniel Levitin called The Organised Mind.
"And the whole premise of the book is that if you can take all of that mess out of your head and put it into ?a physical organised system, that it frees up your brain to be more productive," she explains.
They reached out to a good friend who has built and scaled up his own tech company for advice and told him about their idea. He told them they had "no idea what you're in for" but supported them as best they can.
?Then began their market research to find out what families were already using and what they needed from an organisational app.
"?One thing we found out is that we know there are a lot of tech products out there, but there wasn't something that brought it all together," Kate says. They also came to understand the "mental load" being carried by parents, in particular women.
Kate and Kirk wanted their app to ease this mental load and connect each member of the family in a cohesive way.?
"There's a calendar which you can schedule all of your upcoming events, things like doctor's appointments and birthday parties and school events," Kate explains.
"School is a huge thing that people share with Eggy. And then there's your list, so predominantly the grocery list is the number one list in the household.
"And also things like gift lists and things that need to be done around the house so you can have your to-do lists in there."
The app also has a personal space for each family member, a work space, and can keep tabs on the family's grocery lists, bills and documents.
"You can give kids view access only where they can't edit," she says.
The app is free to download and get started and then it costs $4.99 per month or $42 per year.
Their Eggie Angel service helps families organise their lives via the app and costs an additional $299.
"And we set your spaces up for you based on your life and your needs," she says. "We help you get all of your things into Eggy and invite other people in to really start sharing the load."
The app is proving to be a Godsend on Aussie users and Kate and Kirk are keen to introduce Eggy to families in the US during their upcoming road trip, which will fall over the end-of-year school break.
Their eldest, who is in school, will do some work while on the road, as needed.?
"She's very naturally curious and inquisitive, so she'll be asking us a lot of big questions along the road, I'm sure," Kate says.
Kate and Kirk have also floated the idea of filming their family's upcoming adventure in a docuseries.
The family recently returned from their first family holiday, to Port Macquarie in NSW and their middle child gave them a little taste of what their in for when they are all piled into a vehicle for their planned road trip adventure.
"He just loses the plot ?all the time, he's a little athlete," Kirl shares. "And then Reggie... we call him 'Wreck It Reggie.' He's a nightmare."
The family will begin their trip in LA where they will meet with screenwriters and producers and from there they'll travel to see friends in Oregon and they plan to give their kids a "white Christmas."
"?We'd love to give the kids a white Christmas," Kirk explains. Then we'll probably head over, we've got a lot of contacts in Pittsburgh, and probably closer to the East Coast. So we're going to do a few k's over quite a few months.
"So that's what we're doing."
