Get a Life!

Some entrepreneurs can work 40 hours a week and have a thriving company. Here's how you can have a life!

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Get a Life! If you're still chained to your desk, here are six steps to revamp your management style

Cathey Cotten works like a maniac. From 9 a.m. until midnight, Cotten toils away at MetaSearch Inc., her two-year-old, $360,000 technical -recruiting company. At midnight an alarm in Cotten's San Anselmo, Calif., office goes off--her way of reminding herself to quit working. But more often than not, she ignores the clock and keeps going. She typically heads home sometime between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

Sound familiar? Although Cotten is extreme, she's hardly unusual. Entrepreneurs like her--in the midst of launching a start-up business--know that working around the clock is often a necessary evil. The problem is that many entrepreneurs never get past that 12-hour-workday stage. Look at the CEOs on the Inc. 500, our list of the fastest-growing privately held U.S. companies. In a recent Inc. survey, 41% said they work at least 60 hours a week.

Why do entrepreneurs work so much? "Some do it because their businesses demand it," observes consultant Lanny Goodman, owner of Management Technologies Inc., in Albuquerque. "Some need the rush. Some people work hard because they don't want to go home and spend time with their spouses." And, of course, still others put in long hours because they love what they do. Nevertheless, if you're regularly working more than 60 hours a week, be careful. "You can't run machines at 100% capacity indefinitely. It's the same with humans," warns Goodman.

The irony is that company founders often view their new enterprises as tickets to greater independence and flexibility. But all too often, those same entrepreneurs get so consumed by the business that their expected freedom never comes. However, there are successful entrepreneurs who work 40 or fewer hours a week while managing thriving companies. What's their secret? We've discovered six steps to getting a life--while building a business.

STEP ONE: Learn to Say No
One day Ron Huston's wife said to him, "You're the boss. Why don't you take Friday off?" He agreed. Another Friday rolled around, and something came up at home, so Huston took that one off, too. And the one after that. Pretty soon Huston realized that his absence apparently didn't affect profits, employee morale, or growth projections at his company, Denver-based Advanced Circuits Inc. For the past two years, Huston has taken Fridays off to be with his family. At the same time, revenues at his $6.2-million circuit-board manufacturer have grown more than 30% annually.

How has Huston done it? By learning to say no to nonessential tasks. When a salesperson calls to pitch a product, Huston says, "Sorry, I can't help you," and forwards the call to someone who can. His staff knows he doesn't help with day-to-day decisions, such as materials-and-supplies purchases. Huston believes his reduced workweek helps him focus only on important business issues. "If I worked 12 hours a day, I'd get caught up in the day-to-day details," he says.

STEP TWO: Focus on Key Tasks
Saying no isn't enough, however. Huston has also identified the issues that have a high impact on his business, and he devotes his limited time to those. He knows he needs to meet with important outsiders like bankers. He stays close to the company financials and reviews critical numbers each day he's at work. He meets with key managers and salespeople four mornings a week.

Like Huston, Robin Bradford, owner of Bradford Staff, in San Francisco, has thought about what duties really matter to her company. Recently, she and the top managers at her $12-million staffing business wrote down both the essence of their jobs and all their responsibilities. The results were surprising. Bradford discovered she was wasting time writing marketing literature and making sales calls--tasks that other employees could do. Delegating those duties freed her up to focus on the big-picture planning that is essential to her job. She also can devote one day a week to her outside interests, painting and art.

STEP THREE: Delegate, Delegate
Here's the tough part. If you want more free time, you'll have to delegate. What typically traps entrepreneurs is an inability to let go of the details. It hasn't been easy for Susan Davies, principal of Davies & Monahan PC, a six-person accounting firm in Boston, to give up control. However, Davies was determined to devote two days of her workweek to nonprofit work with homeless women. "Just grit your teeth," advises Davies, who now puts in only three days at the office, except during tax season. "You have to let someone else do it--maybe the way you wouldn't do it."

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