There is a struggle growing in this economy between the
traditional business philosophies of longtime corporate executives and those of
today’s entrepreneurs. Certainly, the debate about whether work/life balance is
possible is not a new one, but one that has burst to the forefront thanks, in
part, to the recession. Recently, an article in
Entrepreneur Magazine titled “Love Your Business More Than Your Family”
reveals just how out of touch so many former executives-turned-business-consultants
truly are with the new economy.
The article’s author, George Cloutier, has a favorite phrase
that is also the title of his book: “Profits aren’t everything – they’re the only thing.” His practice advocates that
business owners shun family activities as well as everyday family
responsibilities in order to focus solely on their business. His is an old
mindset: focus on work first and foremost so you can retire wealthy, and then live out your dreams only after you
retire.
The new mindset reflects the actual state of society as a
result of economic downturn: live out your passions now because in today’s world nothing is certain. Too many
entrepreneurs have watched as their bosses, friends, and loved ones work “all
day, every day” as Mr. Cloutier suggests is required for success, only to retire
with much less than they had planned for, and whose dreams may never be
realized. Imagine living your adult life for your business instead of for you;
what a sad ending and what a life wasted.
I work with hundreds of small business owners around the
country each and every day, and what I have seen magnified in the last five
years is a rebirth of individual passion, personal voyage and commitment to quality
of life. We are inventors, adventurers, explorers once more! Yet we are also
practical business strategists: we understand that what is in our portfolios
today may not be there tomorrow, and so we LIVE. We live for our families and friends,
we live out our dreams by creating
businesses about which we are insanely passionate, and we create pathways to
success on our own terms.
As a 35-year-old executive of two small businesses, the
mother of two young children, wife to my college sweetheart, and friend to an
amazing circle of hundreds of individuals I know I can call on at any time for
support as they know they can call on me – I, along with thousands of other
small business owners raising families – am proof that Mr. Cloutier’s perspective
is not the only path to success. Yes, I do work 50, 60, sometimes 70 hours a
week in order to build my businesses, and I love it. But unlike Mr. Cloutier, I also have a life – a very rich
life - outside of my work. I get the absolute privilege of spending at least 20
hours more per week with my kids than I would if I worked by someone else’s
rules, and during those hours they are
#1, not work. I don’t just buy loved ones jewelry as Mr. Cloutier suggests, but
I do my best to spend quality time with them doing what he would categorize as
unnecessary distractions: girls’ night outs, date nights, birthday parties,
barbecues, impromptu trips to the beach. And when one of my best friends calls me
crying while I am in the middle of a grueling project, I take the call and sit
with her for an hour, because I know my work can wait, but my friend’s
happiness cannot.
You see, I have the capability to do all of this because I
am the boss. I make the rules. Perhaps Mr. Cloutier forgets that part when he’s
consulting his clients. I am sorry that he has apparently failed at his own ability
to be both a savvy business man and a loving family man, however that does NOT
mean it is not possible for the rest of us.
Too often, both women and men entrepreneurs will tell me
that they don’t have balance in their lives. And yet when I speak with them, I
am able to see that they do. They are successful at being mothers, fathers,
life partners, business owners and active members of their community. Yet they
are evaluating their success based on outdated measurement standards instead of
their own. If you are an entrepreneur, never forget that you make the rules:
only you can decide what success means to you.
To all of the business owners and entrepreneurs, I say do
not let men like Mr. Cloutier cloud your perspective. His is a tale that has
sold books but I doubt has made many lives truly
rich. What it comes down to is a difference of perspective: his success is
defined solely by money. Is that how you want to define your life? At the end
of the day, it is our family that hugs us and makes us human, not our profits. It
is our love for one another and our contributions to the lives of others that
keeps us motivated, that creates new opportunities, that provides real platform
for profits with staying power. My paycheck is not my self-worth, and I highly
doubt it is yours. You and I – WE are changing the way the world works, one
family-owned business at a time.
Marlynn Jayme Schotland is the President of The Power MOB, Chief Creative of Urban Bliss, serial blogger, and mother to two young children. Contact her at http://www.marlynnschotland.com.