Work Worship
And the Work:Life Ratio entrepreneurship provides
“PSA” he posted.
“20 years from now, the only people who will remember that you worked late are your kids.”--Sahil Bloom. Sahil is famous on LinkedIn and Twitter; a bazillionaire from private equity.
He goes on to say that Work Worship is “…robbing us of joyful, fulfilling, comprehensively wealthy lives.” We should be “living by design, rather than by default.”
Now more than ever, the work life balance debate is in the news and on social media. Burnout. The Great Resignation. The rise of the solopreneur. The creator economy.
I have a better solution.
Acquisition Entrepreneurship.
Buying an existing, profitable business is the best way to achieve work life balance, except I despise that term. The perfectly, precariously balanced scale, ready to tip at any moment, on the brink of disaster. That’s the image I get.
It’s the Work:Life Ratio that resonates with me, with the proportions varying depending on your time in life, the situation itself, the needs of our ever changing lives.
In my life, the balancing act happens in cycles. Sometimes I’m all in on a work project and I love that focus and the progress I make. To me, it’s exhilarating to become obsessed with something, to go all in, to completely loose myself in the thing. When I was studying for my CPA exams, I made flash cards and studied them everywhere, all the time: at stop lights, in carpool line, at the park, holding them under the table at dinner with friends. I would even make it a game where my kids quizzed me, making them a part of the process. Or when I received the Carlton Sheets “No Down Payment” real estate program. I immediately read every word, implemented everything he suggested, and bought 14 doors within a couple of years.
Sometimes family takes precedence and the ratio shifts. I meant 2023 to be highly productive, laser-focused on my mission to help create 10K female acquisition entrepreneurs, but family duty called. I’ve spent much of this year caring for my 96-year-old grandmother, ultimately planning her funeral. For several months my daughter and I did all her grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and doctor appointments, everything we could to keep her in her own home. (Mission accomplished there.) Grandma continued to decline and decided she had had enough. Hospice came in and cooking and cleaning turned into bedpans and pull ups and oxygen and all the yucky tasks that go along with it. I don’t remember how many nights I stayed over in her recliner during that last month or so. I’m honored that I was able to do that for my grandmother. This wasn’t made possible because I sacrificed my own financial well-being during that time. It wasn’t made possible because I have a rich husband. It was acquisition entrepreneurship that afforded me that freedom. I bought a small but profitable business, made it my own and later sold it.
Hell, speaking of freedom, I’m in the middle of a 4500 + mile road trip where I met that private equity guy mentioned above, Sahil, at Craft+Commerce, a conference for digital business creators. All made possible because I took a chance. I went from waitress to business buyer. Being a business buyer allowed me to create the ever flowing Work:Life Ratio that’s right for me and my family. It's cyclical depending on my current needs, and the needs of my children.
For a financially challenged single mom like me, the struggle was real! Finding the right Work:Life Ratio is especially tough when you’re in survival mode. I feel strongly that your children should see you work hard and earn the rewards, and those rewards aren’t always measured in money. My daughter has told me how proud she is of my journey to become a CPA and to go on to buy and sell businesses. And even though I bombed it, I’m glad I drug her to Boston to see me speak on the big stage at DealFest last summer. She witnessed the journey that got me to that point, watched me falter at the speech itself, then recover, but she also saw me keep going with a promise to myself to do better next time. Focusing on your family isn’t just about spending more recreational time with them. It’s about including them in your business journey and letting them see you succeed, even through the failures.
Entrepreneurship gives you the flexibility to do it all, well, most of the time😊 And buying a profitable business is THE best way into entrepreneurship and your own Work:Life Ratio.
