I came across a survey of business executives in a magazine. Fully 65 percent said that they would not want to start their own business. I can understand, though not relate.

I’m now old enough, and have been running my own business long enough (13 years), that men and women, usually younger than me, occasionally come to me seeking advice about their own business aspirations. They hope I have some answers, hope my graying beard makes me sage-like. I initially disappoint them when I say I don’t have any answers. I tell them I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on the questions, though:

If you want balance between work and family, are you willing to kill yourself for it? If you’re going to run your own business you have to be dedicated to it 100%. There’s no room for lopping off, say 10%, for your family. That doesn’t mean you can’t be equally devoted to your family – of course, anybody who has read Blogenberg realizes I am. But you have to kill yourself to do it. About two to three times a year I get sick, simply because I work, travel, and tend to family so long and hard, my body decides getting sick for a day or two is the only way to get some rest.

Can you live with the frustration (pain?) found in the gap between striving for perfection and realizing you can only do your best? Are you committed to endlessly working to shrink the gap? Recently, my company has made a few mistakes. Fortunately, they were small mistakes, having mostly to do with process that in no way affected the client or the product. But it sent me through the roof. I expect perfection for clients. When we don’t hit it, I’m depressed. As a result, we work harder. I also go to the gym to throw weights around. (more…)