A new venture is much like a newborn: so tiny and fragile and in constant need of your time and affection. Along that same pattern of thinking, a new entrepreneur is much like a new parent with the same passion and protective instinct that comes with caring for a newborn. Unfortunately the same instinct that allows the entrepreneur to grow a seed of an idea into something tangible and growing has the power to totally disrupt the entrepreneur’s life balance.
The 9 to 9+
During the early days of KappaStone I would find myself waking up at 8:30, grabbing a quick snack and then wandering two rooms over to my workspace. If I was feeling ambitious I would change into real clothes or sit down for a real breakfast. Lunch time would come and go and often I wouldn’t leave my workspace except for bathroom breaks, getting water or late in the day when my wife would start yelling up the stairs to come have dinner. Generally that was the only real break I would have during the day.
At this point I would come downstairs to eat and watch TV with Erin. This accounted for maybe an hour worth of time off overall. Was the day over? Hardly. At 8 PM I would head back upstairs and continue working until midnight. Sometimes Erin would still be awake by the time I ended my day. Most of the time she was long since asleep. This went on for several months. Fortunately I have no children or I would have been neglecting them on top of my health, my wife and my friends.
Space
The first big break that came was the decision to move the business out of the house. We had a couple employees by this point, both of whom were working from the house, and our neighbors were suspecting us of running less than legitimate operations in our quiet residential neighborhood (no joke.) A couple weeks of hunting on Craigslist for cheap space, cheap office furniture and cheap moving help later, we moved into our current offices on West Fifth Avenue.
Immediately the line between business and personal life was defined again. No more documents scattered around the kitchen, the living room or the bedroom. No more makeshift workspace setup on our coffee table from days when the heat was too much to tolerate in our spare bedroom. No more sitting around in my flannel pajama pants all day long. No more employees stashing food in our refrigerator or leaving their equipment setup on our kitchen table.
Having a separate, dedicated space outside of the house finally forced me to define clear operating hours and boundaries. It forced me to have a little bit of faith in the business fending for itself outside of 9 to 5 or days when I’m too sick to go in. Most importantly, it forced me to have a life again.
Taking that last call
One boundary issue that remained for me even after the move to a dedicated space was that of the cell phone. During the course of time while the business operated out of my house, my cell phone was my business line. Our 800-number was just a simple forwarding number to my personal cell phone and many of our customers also had my direct number. I grew so accustomed to taking calls at all odd hours of the day and being accessible to my customers that business didn’t necessarily end when I left the office.
The problem really became apparent when we began servicing clients outside of the country. All of a sudden a late call went from 7 pm to 10 pm or later. After several years of having the same number, I had to make the tough choice of getting a separate personal cell phone number and eventually retired my business cell phone in favor of directing all business calls to dedicated VOIP lines. Now I can read emails and listen to voicemails at my convenience and decide for myself is something is an emergency.
Remote access
To this day I maintain a remote access portal to gain access to resources on my workstation from home or on the road if absolutely necessary. This does present a certain temptation to return to my old ways; I could so easily open a project from the house, so easily answer an email that should wait until the next morning, so easily write up a proposal at 1 AM. Fortunately there’s just enough of an inconvenience factor to working on my laptop versus my workstation that I can resist the urge most of the time.
Nevertheless, it is nice to have the option to work remotely on snow days, days when I’m less than well or times when I just need a change of scenery. I can choose to unpack the laptop at the house or setup for an afternoon at a coffee shop.
Remain aware
The biggest favor you can do for yourself as a new or seasoned entrepreneur is to constantly and objectively evaluate your life balance. Sacrifices are necessary at times but you should always take note of these sacrifices and know when it’s time to take a step back and actually enjoy your life, your family and your friends.
