Returning from travel is always busy and this week was no exception. As you can see from my calendar, one day I had 16 meetings!

But is it worth it? 

We're growing. We have a lot of great clients. There have been good prospect calls. 

And for me, this is fun. 

Do I enjoy it? Absolutely!

As you know, we recently spent seven days in Louisville, Kentucky, and like most trips these days, I worked a lot. There were emails to answer, calls to make, clients to support, ideas to work through, and plenty of things that did not disappear simply because I had changed time zones. But I also tried to do something else during the week.

I tried to be present.

Over those seven days, we watched a lot of college soccer. We walked across the Ohio River into Indiana and then back into Kentucky. We explored Cherokee Park, ate some great BBQ, found Italian food for the required soccer-player carb loading, and stopped at Biscuit Belly for breakfast. We even hosted a spaghetti dinner for a group of soccer players, which became one of those simple moments that somehow turns into one of the best memories of a trip.

Somewhere between the work, the soccer, the food, and the miles we walked, I found myself thinking about a question every business owner should ask from time to time. 

What are we working so hard for?

One of the things that impressed me most during the week was the commitment of the parents.

We traveled the farthest distance to get to Louisville, but we definitely did not have the longest journey. There were parents driving 10 hours each way just to watch their kids play soccer.

And what made that even more impressive was that there was no guarantee about what they would see when they arrived.

Some players played the entire game. Others played less than half. Some did not play a single minute. There were even parents who made the trip while their children were injured and waiting for surgery, knowing they would not step onto the field at all.

And yet the parents still came.

Think about that.

Twenty hours in a car, perhaps to watch your child play 90 minutes.

Or 20 minutes.

Or zero minutes.

That is not about playing time.

That is about showing up!

There is a lesson in that for all of us. Sometimes the most important thing we can give the people we care about is not money, advice, opportunity, or even a solution to their problem. Sometimes the most valuable thing we can give them is our time and our presence.

Business owners understand sacrifice. Most of us have missed dinners, worked weekends, taken calls on vacation, and stayed awake at night thinking about payroll, customers, employees, or whatever problem was waiting for us the next morning. There is always another email to answer, another client to help, another proposal to write, or another opportunity to pursue.

That is also the trap.

If we are not careful, the business we originally built to create more freedom can slowly begin to consume all of it.

Yet some of the most important things in our lives simply cannot be rushed.

Building a great company takes time. Developing people takes time. Building trust takes time. Creating a strong culture takes time.

And building meaningful relationships with the people we love takes time too.

That is why those parents stayed with me.

They did not drive 10 hours because they had been promised 90 minutes of playing time. They drove because their child was there.

They were saying, without necessarily using the words:

“Whether you play the whole game, part of the game, or not one minute at all, I am here.”

That is a pretty powerful message.

Years from now, the score of those soccer games probably will not matter very much. The wins, losses, and minutes played will blur together.

But remembering that Mom or Dad drove 10 hours simply to be there?

That may last forever.

As business owners, we naturally measure success in revenue, profit, growth, enterprise value, customers served, or the number of people we employ. Those things matter. I spend a good portion of my life helping business owners improve those exact numbers.

But they are not the entire scoreboard.

And creating those memories may have been some of the most productive time I spent all week.

The goal should not be to build a successful business at the expense of everything else. The goal should be to build a successful business that helps create the life you actually want to live.

So for this Strategy for Saturday, I will leave you with two questions:

What are you working so hard for?

And perhaps more importantly:

Are you showing up for the people you are working so hard for?

Keep building the business.

But make sure you are building the memories, too.

The 40 Strategy Growth Workshop™, Phoenix, AZ - Nov 2nd & 3rd 

Mark Grubbs helps business owners answer a question most of them avoid until it's too late: what is my business actually worth, and how do I get my wealth out of it before I sell?

A partner at WestPac Wealth Partners since 2012, Mark works in the financial "grey area" where an owner's business and personal life intersect. He guides owners through the single most important transition they'll ever face, exiting the business, whether that means passing it to family, selling to key employees, pursuing a third-party sale, or planning for retirement. He works alongside their attorneys, CPAs, and other advisors so everyone is pulling toward the same goal with one coordinated strategy.

His conversations center on increasing enterprise value, defining exit goals, strengthening business continuity, and retaining key employees. It all starts with knowing what the business is truly worth, which is why he offers a complimentary seven-step business valuation, the foundation for smart decisions on wealth preservation, tax strategy, and how much of an owner's net worth should stay in the business versus diversified for the future.

At the Growth Workshop, Mark will show owners how to increase the value of their company, and how to begin distributing wealth out of it well before they ever sell.

Compliance disclosure: Registered Representative and Financial Advisor of Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS). Securities products and advisory services offered through PAS, member FINRA, SIPC. Financial Representative of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), New York, NY. PAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian. WestPac Wealth Partners LLC is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS or Guardian. Insurance products offered through WestPac Wealth Partners and Insurance Services, LLC, a DBA of WestPac Wealth Partners, LLC. CA Insurance License Number – 1541031. 9016594.1 Exp. 07/2