The work of life

For sure cave people never despaired of finding work/life balance. Back then, just living was work - escaping the pesky predators, chasing dinner on the hoof, having a kid or ten before succumbing to some random illness just because you scratched yourself inappropriately. But civilization happened and over time there rose the concept that work was what you did so you could have a life, sometimes in the literal sense. And then there developed a choice, for a few, where working became 'living', a neat flip from the primeval position.

Entrepreneurs routinely face the question of whether they're spending too much time on work. The irony is that everyone (who can afford the choice) is exhorted to find a way to make a living 'doing what you love', and if you love doing something, the chances are you're going to do it a lot. Most entrepreneurs don't feel they're working - at least not toiling - they're just doing what feels right. But, there's the 'life' part with significant others, spouses, children, parents, siblings - the people who you may feel responsible for in some way. There are many VCs and startup pundits who actively subscribe to the conventional wisdom that the best entrepreneur is someone young and 'unencumbered' - someone who can put 150% into the venture. All young people are not able - or often, not willing - to put in that kind of commitment though. Entrepreneurship is not determined by age but the compelling desire to start a company - and if you have that, lack of encumbrances of course make it easier for the entrepreneur to put undivided attention to the company. But (yes, there's a 'but' here), do you want an entrepreneur whose world view is just the company and nothing else? It is interesting to see how so many CEOs feel they have to show how they have 'full', 'normal' lives with the requisite social, and socially-conscious, commitments, the sports (sometimes extreme) as well as photo-perfect families (unless you're young Mark Zuckerberg of course).

So assuming that the entrepreneur has something outside of the startup that s/he wants to hold on to, there is always the problem of finding balance and the solution is individualized. Here's an older post (lies entrepreneurs tell themselves) which I'd read a little while ago that lays out one entrepreneur's take. While this addresses the day-to-day ongoing balance between work and family, the being-home-for-dinner-two-days-a-week sort of thing, the bigger challenge is when something 'big' comes along and demands a ton of your time as well as emotional and mental focus. This is not as unlikely as we would like it to be, accidents happen, people in your life can get critically ill and it may take something more than a trip to the zoo or a weekend getaway from you. This is when the entrepreneur's mettle is really tested. You can't give up your family responsibilities as there are people depending on you and you can't give up on your company as other people are depending on you too, though in a different way. The only thing you can do is cope. Focus on what's critical for the near term, both at work and home, and let the other stuff slide. And get help - if you had a team that you can delegate to, it would relieve some of the stress while still helping you get things done. It may be difficult to have that kind of support if your startup is in a really early stage, but then again, if it is not quite established you may have more flexibility - and maybe you should start looking for management support sooner then later. It also helps if you have plans in place so your team can continue getting things done even without your constant hour-to-hour involvement. Team + plans in place - not just good for routine productivity but also for crisis times when you can't be there 100%. And while you're juggling all these challenges, remember to take time out for yourself - so you are able to pick up where you left off when the times once again pass from crisis to routine and work/life balance is back to remembering to show up for dinner.

Staying true to your mission

Most startups have to do course corrections and redefine - or 'find' - themselves before they are set on the path to success (sometimes even after, as their business environments may change). In a previous post ('adaptive startup') I'd written that while change is necessary, it is non-trivial and serious attention needs to be paid to the original vision of the venture and how it fits in.

I ran across this story about how a 'little' company called Zappos dealt with having to change their business model right after the dot-com crash. Their CEO Tony Hsieh made the decision to walk away from 25% of their revenue in an unarguably bad economy in favor of a business model that enabled their core mission: exceptional customer service. Zappos is differentiated and hugely successful because of their customer service (I'm a customer and I'll attest to the good-vibes shopping experience) - but it takes guts, dedication and clarity of vision to do what Tony did. Also, it is cool to see a shoe retailer, who came somewhat late to the online market, knocking it out of the park based not on disruptive proprietary technology but on the decidedly low-tech people-dependent customer service. Read the story here - it's a good reminder that business is always about the customer.