Why Fun Matters More Than You Think

If you’ve ever juggled the demands of running a business with the pressures of family life, you already know just how challenging, and rewarding, it can be. On this week’s episode, I sat down with my wonderful co-hosts Shirley, Kim, and Tom to answer a question that gets to the heart of our experience: “What did you used to dread doing in the business before you could say no?” The stories we shared, about pop nozzles, messy meat rooms, and Monday morning surprises, quickly turned into a bigger discussion: how making time for fun fueled our perseverance, happiness, and success as a family business.

Dreading the Drudgery: What We Couldn’t Wait to Delegate

Every business owner has tasks they hate, and our family was no exception. For Kim, it was putting the pop nozzles onto the soda machines each morning. She hated it so much she’d rather clean the bathrooms! For me, facing the shelves in the grocery store for hours on end only to see my hard work undone by customers was a special kind of torture. Shirley, ever the tireless worker, dreaded Monday mornings when she’d discover a weekend’s worth of bookkeeping surprises (“What happened to this money? Why did someone accept this check?”). Tom, meanwhile, was more direct. He couldn’t stand cleaning bathrooms or meat rooms, especially at the end of a long day.

It’s tempting to think that in a family business, you have to do everything forever. In reality, learning to delegate, or simply say “no.” is a pivotal step toward sustainability.

Traditions, Travel, and Time Off: How We Made Fun Fit

With all those hours logged in our businesses, you might ask: Did we ever get a break? The answer, thankfully, is yes. Sure, vacations didn’t look like month-long escapes to tropical islands, but we made our kind of fun.

In Fairmont, our “vacations” often revolved around the Piggly Wiggly convention, but for the kids, trips to Santa Claus Village near Chicago or afternoons at the airport watching planes take off felt magical. Sometimes we’d squeeze in day trips to the Wisconsin Dells or snowmobile weekends. Quick escapes that refreshed us for the next round of hard work. Our only truly extended vacation as a family was a memorable trip to California and Tijuana, where we soaked up new places, saved money on souvenirs, and returned with a carload of stories.

One tradition we loved was boating. When we finally bought a boat and found a place on the lake, summer evenings and weekends turned into a celebration, water skiing at sunset, the lake smooth as glass, laughter echoing from the dock. That simple pleasure helped us reconnect and recharge in ways no paycheck could.

Fun as Fuel: Prioritizing Joy in a Family Business

Why does fun matter for business owners and especially for families running a business together? The answer is simple: it’s how you avoid burnout, stay connected, and ultimately succeed. As Tom put it, “The people who burn out are the ones who don’t take any time off.” If all you do is work, stress and exhaustion catch up with you, eroding both your well-being and relationships.

Our approach was to live mindfully, work hard, save up for the things we enjoyed, and pay for our pleasures outright instead of sinking into debt. That meant older snowmobiles at first (junkers, Kim likes to remind us), but they were ours, bought and paid for. Over the years, we upgraded, earned our weekends off, and brought home new stories every time.

Achieving Balance

The biggest lesson I want readers (and listeners) to take away? Don’t let your business run your life. Build fun and family into your plans from the start, you’ll remain happier, healthier, and more productive in the long run. You only get to do this once, so make it count.

Check out the full conversation of episode 74 right here and be sure to read our other blog posts!