“Do You Like That? Yes, Yes I Do.”

The question was from a business friend.  An individual I greatly respect. 

The answer was from me, and it was truthful to the core. 

... 

We were at a 5K race, and by chance I ran into this gentleman.  He has accomplished much in life, and I respect him on both a personal and a professional level. 

We were talking about each other’s recent business endeavors.  I was curious about his situation, and that conversation led to discussing my recent transition from full-time business owner to part-time consultant. 

After a very brief discussion about the end of the former, we started talking about what life looked like for me now.  I explained my family changes (too much to cover in this blog post), and how I now ended my professional day by 2pm or 3pm daily, and generally made dinner in the early evening after investing some time with our kids. 

That was when the question came.  He asked, “Do you like that?”  It was a very valid question, and in hindsight I appreciated that he was so direct with the inquiry. 

It took me by surprise, but it was only milliseconds before I answered.  “Yes, yes I do,” I responded.  My reaction was likely the most mentally clear moment of my week.  Yes, yes I definitely enjoyed it. 

Regardless of whether you may like cooking specifically, or anything else that could be construed as “helping around the house”, that’s not the point.  I share this story because so many business owners (like me) continuously strive for more, and when we achieve it, we don’t know what to do other than go ahead and strive for even more after that.  Although continuing to work towards improvement is a good thing, “more” isn’t always better.  It’s vital to define how much is enough in each of our own individual lives. 

Although I certainly had even larger professional aspirations at points in my life, deep down inside I always knew that at some point I would choose to get more personal time by trading in the upside of business ownership.  Life like this is certainly not for everyone, and I enjoy the part-time work I do for sure, but I also thoroughly enjoy the greater time that is spent “unprofessionally” so to speak at this point. 

So do I like it?  Yes, yes I do. 

I wish you the best in determining what the right answer is for you when the time comes. 

Mark Goldman