Is it really even possible to balance business and love?
In a world that wants us to think we can’t have it all, I refuse to believe we have to choose between having money and having a honey. Judging from social media and reality TV, you wouldn’t believe it was possible to be happily married at all. Add running a business to the mix and it sounds like a recipe for disaster.
So we took to the streets to find women who have it all to find out how they manage it all. They were eager to share the secrets that help them balance business and love.
Meet Mrs. CEO: LaDawn Blackett Jones, Georgia State Representative and Attorney at Law
Do you believe there is such a thing as “balance” when it come to your role as wife, mother and entrepreneur?
Yes. Despite lifelong encouragement to give 110 percent, I’ve realized there is only 100 percent of LBJ. I’ve accepted all of my roles can only get a portion of that. I’ve redefined balance for myself. Balance is not every role being filled to perfection but rather a comfort that you are giving what you need to each role when needed. My biggest accomplishment in life is my ability to choose when and how to pivot and reorganize how I distribute that 100%. When I am off balance that means it is time to reevaluate how my life is organized.
Do you involve your spouse in your business? If so, how?
Absolutely. My spouse, also an entrepreneur running his own IT business. He is my sounding board. Whether it is how to handle personnel issues with my practice or comparing notes on our accounting software we regularly rely on each other. More than anything he is the calming element of my sometimes frantic life. Just being able to vent to him while we are both working from our shared home office is helpful. Of course, I am his company attorney and he is my IT support. He is my favorite co-worker.
Do you believe you have to take off the boss hat when you come home or is there a place for it in your household?
In the early days of our marriage, while I was still a prosecutor whose duty it was to cross-examine someone until you prove they were lying, it was very difficult not to come home and cross-examine him about “who put this in the trash?” But after ten years of marriage, he has learned to ignore me or give me a look that says, “I don’t work for you.” Now, I actually enjoy taking off the boss hat when not in boss mode. My man is truly the man of the house and I appreciate being able to be softer and sillier at home. It is the process of taking off the hat that makes it possible for me to successfully have that balance.
Is your spouse a business owner as well? If so, does it help or hurt to have two entrepreneurs in the home?
My husband is a business owner and there are some scary times when running your own business. The cost of health care for a family of four is outrageously expensive. Having that large client not pay their bill on time is a little more stressful when both parties do not have a guaranteed check. But to balance that with the fact we can choose when to take off together [on] vacation, have a lunch date, or appear at the kids’ school whenever is well worth the stress of the uncertainty of entrepreneurship.
Well, there you have it, another happy wife who’s making it happen! It truly is possible to balance business and love.
