For the past couple months, I’ve been putting in 75 hour weeks at Athletic Lab. Days typically start at 6am (with the first training session at 7) and end around 7 or 8pm. Add to that about 10-12 hours between Saturday and Sunday. And 2-3 speaking engagements a month that take me out of town. The past two days have been 15 hour days and yesterday I didn’t see my daughter other than coming home to find her sleeping.

So much for life balance.

Although difficult, I’m inching towards the long term goal of doing what I love while having financial freedom and some free time to do things outside of work. I’ve heard that one of the biggest problems facing start-up business owners is burn-out. Although I don’t feel anywhere close to this I can see how easy it could happen if someone lost sight of the progress being made. The financial, time, and emotional investment of pursuing something as all-consuming as a start-up business could easily become overwhelming. I’ve found it helps to make sure you learn from the inevitable mistakes while focusing on the progress being made.