This from Paul Orfalea
[founder of Kinkos which got acquired by FedEx
and now has 1,200 stores in 10 countries]

You must be flexible and astute and focus on the big picture. Busyness is not your friend. Startup entrepreneurs too often try to run away from their anxiety by being busy. But you have to leave time open on your schedule for hard thinking rather than hard working. Make sure you get plenty of sleep take vacations and don’t get mired in the details either at the store or at your headquarters. You don’t have to be at your desk in order to analyze cash-flow projections or revenue-by-category data, both of which I love to pore over by the way. Can’t get enough of it. You, as an owner have to be smart about managing your relationship with time. My definition of owning a business is to make money while you’re sleeping. If you can’t make money while you are sleeping, then your business owns you – you don’t own it.

Takeaways:

• Leave time in your schedule for hard thinking not hard working
• Get plenty of sleep
• Take vacations
• Don’t get mired in the details

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