What to do When You’re too Successful

I am 48, and over many years my wife and I have built a company. It keeps growing and we have good long-term employees (15 employees and 10 subbies), and I feel responsible for their ability to pay their mortgages. I love what I do but I am burning out -- and drinking too much. We earn a lot of money and take great holidays, but both my wife and I are fed up working 14-hour days. How do I find a new boss to keep this going?

Matt

Hi Matt,

You sound burnt out. (I know because I’ve been there myself.)That’s what happens when you feel you have a duty to provide for 25 families. And that’s also why you rightfully deserve the big bucks -- it’s people like you who drive the economy forward.

Here’s the thing: like most small business owners, you’re walking the self-employment tightrope because you want your freedom. The only problem is that you end up working for the worst boss in the world: yourself. Fact is, most small business owners have less freedom than the people they employ!

There’s no cookie-cutter answer to any of this -- only the obvious: you’re not in the building game, you’re in the bringing-money-in-the-door game. You’re a salesman. Everything else you do in your 14-hour day should be outsourced to someone better (and cheaper) than you.

Scott