Many motives jump-start entrepreneurs, but romance is rarely one
of them. For Gary Schaffer, however, love was the major reason he
started On Target Mapping seven years ago in Pittsburgh. Because he
was dating a woman who lived in France at the time, Schaffer
explains, "I needed to get myself in a position that would
give me the flexibility to visit her."
Schaffer, 33, eventually married the woman, who moved to the
United States. But family ties still play a role in the business
plan of the 25-employee firm, which earns several million dollars
each year by providing telecommunications, risk assessment, routing
and scheduling data, and software solutions to telecommunications
service providers, government agencies and other businesses. The
company was recently acquired by MapInfo Corp., a worldwide
provider of business mapping solutions and spatial information
management systems based in Troy, New York. Of his early days,
Schaffer says, "My personal decisions pushed my business
decisions."
A more common scenario, however, involves juggling personal and
business commitments. Although achieving balance is essential for
the survival of both the business and the entrepreneur's
family, business owners find it's often like walking a
tightrope while being buffeted by the inevitable winds of
financial, managerial and personal stress.
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"Entrepreneurship is a perspective on life, a way you
approach not only your business but your personal life as
well," observes Dan Pierce, an instructor for the
entrepreneurship program at Northern Illinois University and a
marketing instructor at the school's DeKalb campus. "It
comes down to a judgment of where your priorities are and where you
are in your life."
For example, entrepreneurs with no spouse or young children may
feel little pressure to get home "on time" or spend
weekends with the Scouts or attending ballet recitals. But while
entrepreneurs with family obligations may feel no less driven to
spend 60 hours or more each week at the office, they're often
haunted by guilt over missed vacations, baseball games and other
events. As a business owner, however, you must decide how to make
balance a reality--lest the company swallow all your time and
energy.
In 1978, when Virginia Hilbert founded Professional Technical
Development Inc. in her kitchen as a part-time enterprise, she had
four children living at home. Today, the East Lansing, Michigan,
entrepreneur acknowledges her company would have grown faster had
she not devoted so much time to her children's activities,
which included music lessons and tennis matches. "I went to
all the kids' affairs," Hilbert explains. "My
philosophy is that family comes first."
Although the company's growth was delayed until
Hilbert's family grew up and her obligations decreased, it
wasn't halted. The $5 million-plus company, which provides
computer training to large corporations and state of Michigan
employees, has moved out of Hilbert's home and has 90
employees.
Hilbert's experience is not unusual. A 1997 national survey
by KeyCorp of Cleveland, a bank-based financial services company,
discovered small-business owners were twice as likely as executives
at Fortune 1000 companies to create a business culture that blends
work and family. In fact, 92 percent of the respondents said
"encouraging a healthy balance between work and family"
is part of their corporate culture.
Achieving this goal isn't always easy, however. Only 17
percent of male and 37 percent of female business owners gave
themselves an "A" grade in striking the right
balance.
"Small-business owners realize that promoting a healthy
balance between their work and home lives is good for themselves,
their employees and their businesses," says Sandy Maltby,
vice-chair of KeyBank National Association and head of its
small-business division. The challenge is determining a comfortable
balance and striving to sustain it.
Eric Freedman teaches journalism at Michigan State University
and writes on business, public affairs and legal issues. His latest
book is What to Study: 101 Fields in a Flash (with Edward
Hoffman), published by Kaplan/Simon & Schuster.
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