AMBITION Is Not A Dirty Word – For Better or For Work: Surviving The Entrepreneurial Life

How does someone who is obsessed live peacefully with others who are not? That question summarizes the quandary faced by company founders and their families. To answer it, today’s guest, Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, and I examine the impact—for better and for worse—of entrepreneurial businesses on families and relationships, and vice versa. Meg is the author of For Better or For Work, a vital guide to navigating the emotional and logistical terrain of business-building while simultaneously enjoying a fulfilling family life. For Better or For Work was Selected by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the best business books of the year. From the trials of co-habiting with a home-based business to the queasy necessity of borrowing money from family and friends to the complexities of intergenerational succession, no topic is taboo. Entrepreneurs, listen in on our conversation about how to build a successful business without sacrificing healthy family relationships to the financial and emotional rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship. No entrepreneurial family trudges the hard trail of company-building alone. If you have embarked on such an enterprise, you and your spouse or significant other will find comfort and guidance in the experiences of others like you. If you have not yet started a business, today’s show invites you to take a good hard look at your entrepreneurial calling before leaping. Meg Cadoux Hirshberg draws on the struggles and triumphs that she and her husband Gary experienced as he built Stonyfield Yogurt. She also shares powerful stories and insights from other families, gathered through hundreds of interviews for her book, as well as in her role as contributing editor and regular columnist for Inc. Magazine. Meg’s Inc. column, “Balancing Acts,” focuses on work/life balance issues in an entrepreneurial setting, Today’s show, For Better or For Work, will remind you that the long hours and late nights spent on the business or with the family are worth the effort, and will give you tools for making both endeavors successful.