How to Be a Business Owner and Also Have a Life

According to The Alternative Board’s January 2016 Small Business Pulse Survey, the average business owner works 49.4 hours per week—but they’d love to cut that down to 41.7.

Last year, our research showed that the number one reason business owners start a company is to be their own boss. Considering business owners are working 400 hours a week more per year than they want to be, it seems they’re no longer their own boss—the work is.

So, if you’re an entrepreneur who went into business for more freedom, flexibility, or time with family and friends, but you’ve achieved the exact opposite, it’s time to look into the root of the problem.

Below are eight ways to modify your leadership strategy, so you can be a business owner and still have a life.

My Startup Was Hacked: What I Did Right (and Wrong)

One day in the fall of 2014, when I was still helping run a startup I co-founded (not the one I’m working for now), a client forwarded me an email he thought was suspicious.

The email looked a lot like something my company would send. It linked to a website that looked a lot like ours that offered a great deal on the same service we provided. The site’s URL was almost identical to ours, too.

Right away I had a bad feeling, but my first reaction was to tell myself it was just a competitor that had somehow gotten the email of a single client.

Not a big deal.

Then another client forwarded the same email. And another, and another.

Pretty quickly it became clear that someone had gotten a list of our clients, and was sending them emails to try and trick them into paying the wrong company for our service.

I was angry and worried. Who was doing this? How had they gotten our clients’ information? How much did they have?

Ultimately, I think the way we reacted was mostly good, but we did make a few key mistakes. I hope that if you’re ever in this situation, my story will help you respond better.

Turning a Failed VC Pitch Into a New Connection and Future Business

I enjoy sharing my experiences as an entrepreneur with friends and family. There are few things that light up a room like the realization that there are real opportunities outside the world of cubicles and the nine to five office culture.
One of the stories I find myself repeating, especially when talking to people that feel they are at the end of their rope, is the story of how I launched my first business.

Because it was my first business, I was very wet behind the ears, and probably made just about every mistake imaginable.