The Life Factor

Tom Fedro: Implementing Transformational Leadership and Delivering Success in Complex Technology Markets
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Tom Fedro

It’s amazing how crazy the world of startup development can sometimes get.  I think about it sometimes.  We live our lives trying desperately to create something so that we…well, so that we can begin living our lives.  I think about it often.  Are we putting the cart before the horse?  Are we counting our chickens before they hatch?  One of the advantages of this new economy is that we can tailor our world, in an entrepreneurial sense,  to the life we want. We spend so much time working for our future that we forget we have choices in the meantime.

I’m a fan of Michael Wolfe.  He describes himself as a serial entrepreneur and has had tremendous success building businesses over the past 15 years with several highly profitable exits.  What I find amazing is his ability to manage living a life with building companies.  He wrote an interesting blog piece about staying in shape while working long hours and has for a long time maintained that while a startup will consume a great deal of your life, it ought not consume all of your life.

It’s not really all that out of the box in terms of philosophy.  In fact, the term workaholic was created as a kind of a warning in this area.   However, we in the world of entrepreneurialism tend to idolize the men and women who work nineteen hour days every day and watch their relationships, their health, and their social lives disappear in the process.  Add to that mix the fact than almost every startup fails.  This advice comes from a man who’s successfully built five.

This Wolfe guy competes in Triathlons at world class times, Ultra-distance running, Biking etc…Okay, so are we looking at a man who’s already achieved the success that allows him to live?  I don’t believe so.  From the outset, Wolfe suggested the key to a startup wasn’t sacrificing your life but designing the business around the life you want to lead.   His advice?  “Pick where you want to live and the people you want to hang out with first.  Then find a career that lets you do that.” Very good advice and his thoughts on working out in the morning to make sure you are consistent – I am now a believer!

How are you balancing your life with your dream?

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