Do you go on working vacations? Are you on call all the time? If these situations sound familiar to you, welcome. You're an entrepreneur and have yourself a family, trying to not only keep a healthy work/life balance but to be successful at both. Somehow. Luckily, you're not alone. There's a book that reassures you of that by sharing war stories of others' survival strategies. Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, wife of Stonyfield Yogurt owner Gary Hirshberg, began writing a family/work column for Inc. magazine in 2008. Those popular columns, and the subsequent letters to the editor, became the fodder for her new book, For Better or For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families.
The book doesn't have in-depth company/family profiles. There are, however, small glimpses of such companies/people scattered throughout the book, along with helpful questions for consideration at the end of each chapter. Questions like "What, if anything, are family members expected to do for the business?"
One of the most practical chapters is about technology and how we can't live with - or without - smartphones that keep us wired at all times. While they give us more connectivity and let us conduct business transactions from little league fields as well as board rooms, they also make us feel beholden to them.
Hirshberg quotes a rabbi who says he finds intrusive technology to be a stressor in most relationships. "People are not present for each other," he said. The author challenges the entrepreneur - and, it applies to anyone, really - to keep some rooms, perhaps the kitchen - technology-free zones. That way, you can practice being fully present with people. That got me thinking: I should stop bringing my iPad with me to the dinner table. What are my kids learning about my priorities when they see me using technology so much, sometimes to their detriment?
The book closes with 20 Simple Rules: some for the entrepreneur, some for the spouse, and some for the couple. The advice is practical: take the long view, give your spouse a voice, befriend other company-building families. In the end, this book provides solace to the business owner and, especially, his/her spouse and family. You're not alone! It also gives the entrepreneur's family occasion to stop and think about how to communicate and imagine needs, expectations and maybe even best and worst-case scenarios with one another. Buy this book for an entrepreneur... and her/his spouse!
Win This Book (above)!
Want to snag Meg Cadoux Hirshberg's new book "For Better or For Work"? Guess the trivia question below (this one's in honor of mothers' day). If you're correct, you'll be entered to win one copy of the book!
This Month's Trivia:
Which of the following is true about a mother and her babies?
a) A mother giraffe often gives birth while standing
b) A female oyster, over her lifetime, may produce over 100 million young
c) Kittens are born both blind and deaf, but their mother's purring is used to signal them
d) All of the above
E-mail us right now with your answer!
Please note: One prize per entrant per year. Entrants who have won a trivia contest in the last 12 months are ineligible to compete for prizes.
The trivia winner for the month of April was
Brian Meers at Colt Recycling
in Schenectady.
Congratulations, Brian! He correctly answered our question below and won a pair of movie tickets...
What event directly caused the creation of "April Fool's Day"?
a) The addition of January, February & March to the original calendar
b) A huge snow blizzard that occurred on April 1, 1909
c) A series of jokes played on candidates on April 1 during a political campaign
The answer is: (a).
