Finding the Right Balance in Business

Richard Branson: Finding the Right Balance in Business

Richard Branson interviewed for Entrepreneur magazine September 23, 2010

Aspiring entrepreneurs and business people who are struggling with the responsibilities of a demanding career and family often ask how to juggle both, or if I think you can.

Can you be a successful entrepreneur and still devote time to your family? You can and must make time for both family and business. It is important to build a strong family life: It helps to give you a better perspective and balance in business. Moreover, a key responsibility for each generation is to bring up the next generation — and you need to be present to do this.

Since I have almost always worked from home, it’s been relatively easy for me to spend time with my family. Once, my “office” was a small houseboat in Little Venice, near London; I remember the kids crawling around the floor while I had my meetings.

Even when we moved to a house in London’s Holland Park, I used it as an office and moved out only when my wife Joan complained about all the meetings at home. Mind you, I moved the office two doors down the road!

How do you balance family life with the time required to set up and build a business? Spending a lot of time with the family also made me adapt the way I work. This has been one of the keys to Virgin’s success. I always made sure we had proper family holidays — time spent away from work and the office. Spending time away taught me the art and importance of delegating from an
early age. I quickly learned what I was good at and made sure I brought in people to help with those areas where I was weaker.

As Virgin got bigger and we set up more businesses, they had to be run from actual offices in various buildings. I minimized the time I spent inside those buildings. This helped me keep the bigger picture in perspective, remaining alert to new opportunities. I could focus on the important decisions without getting bogged down with too many daily details. Taking yourself outside the hurly-burly of everyday business allows you to make clearer and longer-term decisions.

Being away from the office for periods of time also means you develop a strong bond of trust with your senior colleagues. In my case, we have built a very strong team of committed and talented managers who will fight for the business through the tough times.

There is a balance, though, and you must be careful not to be too distant or absent from a company. An entrepreneur must make sure to be seen by the staff and spend time getting their feedback and ideas. Listening to others is a key quality of a good business leader.

How important is time off to you? A lack of time off and short holidays are constant bugbears in the modern business world. To keep yourself and your staff motivated and healthy, it is important to take holidays and get a break from work. The right balance will ensure that you have a committed and enthusiastic staff that performs better when at work instead of looking for excuses to take sick days.

Keeping fit and healthy is also a key to staying on top in business. Exercising every day – a swim, a run or a game of tennis – has given me more energy to tackle the everyday decisions. Since I have enjoyed what I do, I have never felt resentment at missing out by being stuck at work.

My philosophy of living life to the fullest and taking advantage of good family holidays has turned up business opportunities along the way. On a trip to Africa we discovered Ulusaba, our stunning game reserve near the Kruger National Park. While in Morocco,
waiting for the balloon expedition to take off, I discovered the Kasbah Tamadot, nestled in the Atlas Mountains. Both of these properties are now key parts of the Virgin hotel portfolio.

Actually, many of my business opportunities have come through personal experiences on my travels — during the time that is really blurred between work and play. I may have met someone who suggested an idea or visited a place that sparked a new venture.

Now more than ever, it is really important that companies, including Virgin, be more flexible in how they approach staff and time off — through job-sharing, flexible hours or working at home. Finding the right balance for yourself and your staff may be the key building block for a successful, resilient and happy business.

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About Dr Bill Toth

Bill’s Background I’m just an average guy who’s learned a few things about Life, Success and Personal Development – thanks to some incredibly good and bad experiences during the past 25+ years. I’ve made many mistakes and have learned to combine down to earth values with a unique ability to distill complex concepts into simple powerful strategies which can be immediately applied to produce measurable results. In short; “I’ve traveled the territory, drawn a few maps and I’m happy to share them” I do not consider myself to be an “expert” and my work is never presented as the definitive doctrine on how you should live your life or what it takes to be successful in your business. I am a work in progress and if you were to you join me on life’s journey by hiring me as your coach or partnering with us in business – our learning will very likely be a two way street. In fact, I expect it to be. “What you know dies with you – what you DO leaves a legacy” I was raised in upstate New York and eastern Pennsylvania. This rural upbringing is strongly reflected in my personal value hierarchy: Faith > Family > Friends > Fitness and Finance. Education and a commitment to continuous improvement are next on the list. All these and more are strongly reflected in my coaching, teaching, writing and speaking. While growing my private practice I also taught Orthopedics and Neurology at both the undergraduate and graduate level, produced a TV show on fitness, appeared on numerous radio and TV programs, authored numerous journal articles, chapters for medical texts, served as vice-president of my state medical association, and started a family. I have had the honor and privilege of consulting with and coaching a diverse population of people from royalty to prisoners, from children to CEO’s, from amateur to professional athletes from 41 countries and people of almost every race, creed, religious belief and nationality. I am passionately committed to contribution and Living With Intention. Part of my philosophy is to think globally while acting locally. I am a very active member of my church, as well as several community organizations. After church, my favorite philanthropy is the Nourish the Children. I have also performed extensive volunteer work for both the Anthony Robbins Foundation, and the Make a Wish Foundation. Why become an Entrepreneur? I became an entrepreneur because after 5 years of Health Care Reform I found I was merely an employee of the various insurance company’s I was interacting with. I became painfully aware I was working more hours for less money and that what I was doing wasn’t working! At the same time my beautiful daughter, Casey, was born. This was the first time in my life I started to think about my future, and of course hers. When children come into your life, your perspective changes from Firebirds and Ferrari’s to Gymnastics, music lessons, horseback riding and so forth. Suddenly, I had to think longterm – was what I was doing going to provide all the things that a father wants for his children? In October of 1998 I started my entrepreneurial endeavors on a very part time basis. Less than 3 months later my New Year’s Resolution was to put my practices up for sale. In May of 1999 I sold them and began to work on my dreams and my fortune on a full time basis. From there, it took me a full five years to get to the point where I could do whatever I wanted to do. Along the way I wrote my first book: “Morning Moments”…as well as learning a few things about money, transitioning careers and happiness. I am happy to share what I know, in short again; “I’ve traveled the territory, drawn a few maps and I’m happy to share them” In summary; Transitioning careers was the hardest challenge I’ve ever taken up and it’s been the most rewarding! In so many ways, this is the very best personal development seminar I’ve ever taken because I met mySelf and my wife in the process…and every perceived adversity was worth it. Today, with my wife Julie, we “get to” pay the gift forward by coaching, mentoring others through the same process. There is no greater pleasure than showing others how to earn their freedom and then observing what good they do with it. Life Will Never Be The Same
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