Survival tips for small business owners

We recently sold a business for husband and wife proprietors of a property lettings and management agency who told me that they had not had a single day off for thirty-two years! They took a mobile phone wherever they went and regardless of whether they were away on holiday, eating Christmas lunch or fast asleep in the small hours of the morning, they would dutifully answer every call and deal with whatever emergency there was immediately. One couple didn’t have a day off in 32 years. They sold up and had a holiday. Four weeks later, the husband died of a heart attack. They finally sold their business, took their first proper holiday for thirty-two years and enjoyed another four weeks of their retirement before the husband died from a massive heart attack. I feel sad about this story whenever I tell it. Take a break! So many of the business owners that I deal with believe that they have to be available 24/7. I believe that they are wrong about this and that the benefit of any extra money that they earn from working these extra hours will be far outweighed by the damage that they do to their…

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