There is a fine line between being an entrepreneur and being a dad. For sure, they don’t work at each other’s advantage when your kids are young. Sleepless nights will eventually break you down during the day. Working long hours at work will make you miss some of the most wonderful years of their lives.

One of the most important things to do when you have little ones is to make an agreement with your spouse. Ofcourse, he or she cannot do all the work alone, but for example I ‘volunteer’ to get out of bed after 5am while my wife does the night’s work. As she is working part-time this can be a good arrangement and getting up at 5am can be something you get adapted to. Just don’t expect to be alive and kickin’ at 11pm the same night, thought. I found out these early hours are quality time as well for answering e-mails.

At night I try to get home around 5.30pm and have dinner with the family. This won’t always work and you’ll have your ups and downs, but pledging a cease fire on your work between 5.30pm and 7.30pm (until kids go to sleep) can give you some quality time. At sunny days you can drive to the beach. At rainy days you will watch some Brum or Teletubbies with your kid. After that, work can be there to finish and you have some time left to spend with your spouse.

Writing this down I acknowledge that the things stated above aren’t always executed this way. You also have your sports evening or some client asks for a critical issue at the end of the day, but most important is that you have a plan. This plan involves an understanding with your spouse and a target schedule for the entrepreneur in you. This will lead to a much better balance in your life, although life can still be hectic. At least you have some sense of keeping control over it now.

Then are the days you can’t plan. Your kid gets sick and feels bad all night, causing you to nurture instead of sleep. With two kids, in time, the one will wake up the other and you have to manage that as well during the night. These are the things that make being an entrepreneurial dad the hardest because there is no backup plan at work for this. Just don’t think you can fix this with working harder, as you will be too tired and ineffective.

You might see the little bright spots of those days, open up your laptop and start blogging at 6am. I love being an entrepreneurial dad…

One of the things I hear entrepreneurs say is that they will have to work like crazy in the weeks before their vacation. For me, it is no different. When somebody tells you how much fun it is to go on a Holiday, don’t listen be fore you’re actually there. Getting a break is hard work.

Looking for answers why we - the entrepreneurs - always have to work double shifts to get some free time, I looked at some of the situations that occur when you rip yourself from the company and try to relax for a week or two.

• Regardless of the time of year, the extra work always occurs. So this is not about others going on a Holiday as well.
• When clients know you’re gone, they put down forward their demands much sooner with a ‘request’ to have this finished before you go.
• When you know you’re gone, you want to finish those things your clients have asked from you. Next to that, life goes on and new work will add to the already piling up amount of work.
• You have to communicate that you’re going on a Holiday, take extra calls and have to remind about your Outlook going on out-of-office.
• Tasks that are usually done by you alone have to be transferred to other people, if possible.

I probably left out another 10 things to do, but I’m too busy trying to go on a Holiday to get it straight right now. I need a break…