The Entrepreneur Vacation Dilemma

02 Aug, 2024

Twitter Post

The Entrepreneur Dilemma:

This is an age old issue for the entrepreneur.

If you are an entrepreneur in one way or another, I KNOW you’ve experienced this/ CURRENTLY experience it.

Maybe it’s a side hustle that you have, maybe you’re ALL in and everything rides on you… either way, I know that you’ll resonate with this.

“How do you vacation?”

And

“Can ‘it’ ever really get turned off?”

From the outside, people might say “oh ya of course, you jus have to delegate better. You know, E-Myth. ON your business, not IN it…” 🙄

Sure. I agree, but theres so much more to it that than.

My scenario might not be the same as yours, but I’ll try to break this down the best I can with the hope that if you resonate even a LITTLE bit that you’ll know you’re not alone trying to figure this out.

I work 40+ hours a week as a police officer.

Every other waking moment I’m trying to balance the rest of my life while starting, buying, growing and yes, at times, utterly failing at business…

The other parts of my life that I’m referring to are my family (wife, two kids and 1 on the way), my health/ fitness and then MAYBE some “free time” left in there for peace and quiet. Usually that’s from 4-5am…😴

I haven’t gone “all in”. I’m not a burn the boats kind of guy. And while I BLEED entrepreneur and believe in what I’m capable of with all my heart, not going all in isn’t about ME, it’s about the other lives that I am taking care of and provide for.

WHEN I finish building the bridge and can take the leap, I will. Until then, it’s just a “balance” that I have to accept.

So now let’s talk VACATIONS.

We’ve been out of town for the week and I genuinely don’t feel that I disconnected. From my Police job, 100%. That’s easy. When I’m off, I’m DONE.

But with all my other projects and businesses, I was almost MORE stressed being out of town.

Not because I don’t want to do the work, In fact, the opposite. I LOVE every single thing I’m working on.

I CRAVE the process and the creation. My brain doesn’t EVER stop thinking about what’s next and the execution of each swirling idea.

Being away from my normal routine with the purpose of being with family, relaxing, disconnecting and recharging was and is much harder than it should be.

How I’ve failed during this trip:

1). I didn’t prioritize the most important things to work on. I just assumed that I’d be able to chip away at things in moments through the day

2. I didn’t delegate ANYTHING. I have multiple VAs and a team of business partners but was under the belief that I could keep up my same pace

3. I didn’t compromise. Nothing was taken off my plate. Again I thought I was way more capable than I am.

What I DID do:

1. Got up at4 or 4:3o every morning to get a little something done

2. I had a few work calls that I said “no” to… They can wait until I get back

3. I made extensive lists of the things that I realized were a little too much to accomplish. I’ll work on them next week

Anyone figure this juggling act out yet? Or will this forever be a battle?