Your So-Called Life

Making time for family outside of business hours isn't the only way to encourage balance. "Some entrepreneurs are including their families in their businesses more and more," notes Dan Pierce at Northern Illinois University. "Schedules are getting more flexible, and technology is allowing people to work from home and interact with their families during the day."

When Hilbert founded her company, she "hired" her husband as a part-time evening instructor, while her 8-year-old helped with bulk mailings. Over the years, Hilbert's children have held a variety of positions in the company. Hilbert's daughter did secretarial work for her while in college, and her son handled marketing while in law school. Today, two of her four children work in the business--one daughter is the human resources director and one son is the director of marketing. "We're a very close family," says Hilbert.

Two years after establishing his firm, Parr married, creating a blended family with three children. When the children were young, Parr's wife worked at the business from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., then went home to be with the kids after school. The children grew up and the couple later divorced, but Parr's ex-wife remains with the firm as its marketing director.

Whether your family members work in the business or not, it's important to keep them informed of what's happening with the company. Discussions with your family are important in both good business times and tough ones, according to Dr. Edward Hoffman, a New York City clinical psychologist who researches and writes about organizational behavior. One typical good-news situation that cries out for family discussion comes when the company faces sudden growth and must hire more staff or move to a larger, more expensive facility. "Expansion always carries risks and stress."

Hoffman emphasizes that it's particularly important to decide how much information to disclose and when to disclose it if your spouse or significant other isn't involved in the operation. For example, if your spouse isn't interested in the details of management and finances, the two of you should still talk about the general status of the business, but you may not want to discuss all the nuts and bolts. "Some compartmentalizing may be necessary," Hoffman says, "but there's a point when it becomes self-defeating to put the burden on your family."

This article was originally published in the March 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Your So-Called Life.