Comments on: Small Business 101: This is Not a 9 to 5 Job

By: Jim Raffel

Jim Raffel — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:20:18 +0000

Ten would be better but it always seems to turn into twenty….

By: Pete Prodoehl

Pete Prodoehl — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:26:47 +0000

“Vacation is a twenty hour week.” Excellent

By: Joshua Garity

Joshua Garity — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:10:20 +0000

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for expanding on the humanly possible statement. I took it as a literal statement as opposed to thinking of it as a 'dependent on what I'm doing' type of statement.

Sold. I agree with you again I will also take a look at your balance/empire article!

By: Jim Raffel

Jim Raffel — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:49:52 +0000

For me “Humanly possible” includes recognition of when other things come first. If I am engaged with family or friends, I will respond when that event is concluded or at such time as it does not disrupt that event. Even between 9 and 5 if I am on a call with one customer the next one is going to have to wait until I can call them back. Sometimes that is hours. I could probably write a whole post about what I meant by humanly possible.

As for “balance” and “empire” I wrote about how that feels to me here: http://jimraffel.com/2010/01/11/the-personalpro…

As always, your words are too kind. I'm just another guy struggling to make this all work. Perhaps the difference, if there is any, is that I never quit. Success is the only road I have any plans to travel.

By: Joshua Garity

Joshua Garity — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:36:11 +0000

Nice post Jim. Although I don't agree with “When a customer contacts you before 9am or after 5pm …. respond as quickly as humanly possible”. Part of being a successful business owner, in my mind, is setting up ground rules for yourself.

I wrote about that in 'Building yourself as a successful brand' http://www.joshuagarity.com/life/building-yours… (May 23, 2010)

In the end, you could work 24 hours a day and still not be as hands on and productive as you want to be as a business owner. That is the main struggle. Finding a balance between personal life and running your business. Knowing when to 'turn off' business mode to focus completely on the life around you.

Unless we are talking about you and your wife. You guys read Twitter to each other in the car Which is sweet. But you have achieved a different level of balance that many of us can't. Your empire is part of your life. And because of that, you are one of the special ones

By: Jim Raffel

Jim Raffel — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:59:30 +0000

I do love what I do. I truly hope it shows with those I work with.

By: Jim Raffel

Jim Raffel — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:58:52 +0000

Loved the brand names post and how it's a derivative work of your vacation.

By: Jim Raffel

Jim Raffel — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:56:34 +0000

Somehow I suspected we might agree on this

By: Craig Gagnon

Craig Gagnon — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:21:50 +0000

Well said, Jim. The emphasis in your post, tho, is not the hours – it's the love of the work. If you don't love it, the hours would seem impossible and you'd resent the time spent. I'm sure your customers and your employees see it in you and your work.

By: shalinibahl

shalinibahl — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:13:47 +0000

I always love your honesty in your Blog and tweets. I just came back from vacation & I had a really good time, but yes I was reading emails, using travel time to read business books, and converting my new experiences into personal learning and Blogging ideas. One I just wrote on the brand names I noticed in Michigan that caught my eye can be read here: http://iam-bc.com/blog/do-these-brand-names-mak…

And like you said work never ends but its not a problem because I really love what I do. That being said I loved what I read in Paul Hawken's book, which I read on vacation. It was in the context of work never ending because of problems we need to tend to. His insight was that problems will never end, but what distinguishes a good company from a bad company is that in a good company the problems are energizing and every one involved wants to be a part of it. As small business owners if we can create the right kind of problems we are in good shape.

Other than that I breathe and meditate to stay present, because in the present there is no tension, only what needs to be done now…