It’s Not About Working Harder

“As business owners, we're trained to believe that pushing through fatigue is a badge of honor,” says Alan Pentz. “Sleep when you're dead. Hustle harder. No days off. What a load of crap.”

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• This photo-framing company figured out a tariff solution, but the uncertainty is a problem.

• How much can you raise prices on an item no one really needs?

• Americans think we need more factories. We just don’t want to work in them.

• Franzy wants to be the Zillow for buying and selling franchises.

MANAGEMENT

Alan Pentz says working harder may not be the answer: “I hit rock bottom on a Tuesday afternoon. I was staring at my computer screen, completely unable to make a simple decision about a client proposal. My mind was blank. My creativity was gone. I'd been grinding for months, and suddenly, the tank was empty. That moment taught me something crucial: You can't outwork an energy problem. As business owners, we're trained to believe that pushing through fatigue is a badge of honor. Sleep when you're dead. Hustle harder. No days off. What a load of crap.”

• “When I analyzed where my energy was going, I discovered something disturbing. The activities that drained me most were: Meetings where I wasn't actually needed. Decisions others could make without me. Problems that could have been prevented with better systems. Conversations I'd already had multiple times. Work that remained undelegated due to not wanting to ‘overload’ someone.”

• “The strangest part? I was doing this to myself. As the owner, I had complete authority to restructure how I spent my time and energy. No one was forcing me into this pattern. Yet I stayed trapped in it for years, believing that, ‘This is just what running a business looks like.’”

• “For example, I hated doing employee compensation but it’s really important. We set up a process where the team gets market survey data, does an exercise to rate performance that forces real decisions and trade-offs, and models a low, medium, and high compensation increase scenario. Now I knew that the key variables and considerations had been taken into account and I could come in at the end and make a final decision.” READ MORE