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Ryan Healy is a recent college graduate. He is a founder of 
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Tech Crunch recently posted a few controversial articles in reference to Jason Calcanis’s post about the necessity of hiring workaholics in a start-up. Mike Arrington said,
“You should hire people who work 24 hours a day because there is nothing else they’d rather do. If you’ve got a product to launch and you’re ultimately trying to disrupt a bigger and better funded company, it’s likely that you are going to need a superhuman effort from the team. I doubt Google’s early employees complained about the hours (and take a wild guess as to why Google gives employees free lunch and free dinners).”
The posts produced some great comments and the discussion got pretty heated. Many people argued (and rightly so) that work-life balance is necessary no matter what field you’re in. But in my very brief time as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that both Arrington and Calcanis are 100% right. If you want to have a real shot at succeeding as an entrepreneur or in any other demanding career, you need to have the desire and ability to work 24 hours a day. And this doesn’t leave much time for a personal life.
But a personal life in your twenties typically means bars, friends, girlfriends and boyfriends–all of which can take a back seat to work if you make that choice. On the other hand, a personal life in your thirties or forties typically means a spouse, 6 pm soccer practice, and Saturday afternoon dance recital–none of which should take a back seat to work as far as I’m concerned.
This is why the whole system seems a little backwards to me. Companies expect young workers to wait around for five, ten, or twenty years before they’re promoted to partner or VP. Then you get the big promotion and the big paycheck right around the time your kids are entering elementary school. And then they expect you to spend the most important years of your children’s lives at the office, only to retire when your kids are leaving home, heading off to start their career.
So when older workers complain that our generation—Gen Y—is in a rush to get ahead, they’re absolutely right. The time to get ahead is now, and we shouldn’t make any apologies for doing whatever we can to make it happen. Whether that means starting a blog, side stepping the typical corporate ladder by job hopping, or starting a business and dropping out of the rat race all together, now’s the time to do it.
If your goal is to be wildly successful you should be working your butt off from ages 20 to 30 with the intention of reaching the top of your respective field as early as possible. And you should have a loose plan for how you will scale things back when it’s time for kids and a family.
Whether you want to be a successful entrepreneur, a high powered investment banker, or a well-rounded world traveler, it takes a ton of hard work to be great. So don’t listen to the people who say your time will come. Forget next year. Next week is seven days away. Don’t make excuses for starting tomorrow. Do it now. Be impatient.
It’s the new work-life balance: work now, balance later.
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The other thing to point out here is that there is a difference between working smart and working hard.
If you want to get to the point where you can scale things back later its important to not only work hard now but to pick goals and work as efficiently as possible towards them as well.
Otherwise you get yourself into a never ending cycle of toiling away without any way to step off the track when the time comes.
Work now, balance later Ryan? Why don’t we work now and enjoy what we’re doing while balancing it with occasional nights out with friends? I get what you’re saying, but balance doesn’t have to mean a family.
Ryan, work now balance later is actually the old plan. Work now (young and old) and balance later (after retirement).
I agreed with everything I was reading right up to that point. I totally agree that if there’s something you want you should go for it now. But if you think that in owning a business starting now means it will be less work later, you could be wildly mistaken. As the daughter of a business owner and former employee of a small business association, owning a business will always kill your social life. Sure, the start-up stage is chaos, but as I know you’ve already seen, it doesn’t really ever slow down.
Monica has it right. Work hard to play hard - now.
Ryan,
I’ve been reading the whole Calanacis situation through Twitter. I also saw that Mark Cuban has posted something similar and it defends Calacanis. I am in a peculiar situation, I am 25, happily married, bought our first home and should be living out the best years of our lives. Well, I am. Except that I spend 80+ hours a week working. My wife understands this as she will benefit from it (hopefully) when the time comes to have lil ones running around.
I work hand and play hard, but if my company needs my attention 24 hours a day, I need to be there to make sure things go right. If I was at a 9-5, that would not be the case. I have chosen to take on my own ventures and put in the work to make things successful at the end.
I believe that Ryan and Ryan sacrificed and did the same. Moving to Wisconsin from a big city is a big commitment to a start-up. Their lives revolve around it. The companies you see that are truly making a difference in the world, the Google’s, the Facebook’s, etc put in time around the clock to make sure things work and that their success will not be topped by the next entrepreneur that is close on their heels. Sipping margaritas is the ultimate goal, however it can wait till your 30’s, or the conferences and festivals.
Here’s the Mark Cuban link:
www.blogmaverick.com/2008/03/09/my-rules-for-startups/
@Brad - Good point, there is a huge difference between working hard and working smart. The trick is to figure out how to do both. (I think I’m still working on that)
@Monica - Totally agree, you should work hard and go out with friends or whatever else you want to do every once in a while. What I mean is don’t expect to have a 9 to 5 job. However, none of this applies if you aren’t concerned with being at the very top of your field. Not everyone cares, and that’s totally respectable, but like Mike Arrington said, you can’t think you will ever take down the big guys if you don’t work harder (and smarter) than them.
@Jacqui - Interesting, I guess that is the old work-life balance. Maybe the title should be “Parenting: The New Retirement.” What I was really getting at is you should want free time when the kids come, not before and after. And yes, Owning a business is always a ton of work. Figuring out how to scale it back at some point down the line is where the working smart thing comes in.
@Greg - Thanks for the link, I love Cuban’s blog. You are in an interesting situation being a married, young entrepreneur, but like you said, you have no choice but to work 80 hour weeks. Well, I guess the other choice is to settle on being just another company, but what fun would that be? I’m sure your wife understands that you are not a 9 to 5 guy (at least for now) but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little bit of a life outside of work.
I wonder if this is just a self fulfilling prophesy.
Most people we hear about in blogs like these are the kind of people who are going to work 80+ hours per week anyway. They like being in the thick of things, and are unlikely to delegate tasks to others.
Or perhaps the businesses we often hear about are the ones that make a big splash. They come out of nowhere, grow huge within months, and get sold off to the highest bidder. These kind of guickly growing businesses require superhuman involvement.
But I’ve also heard of businesses that started out as a hobby. People grew them slowly, over years, until they realized that they could make just as much money on their hobby as at their job. And they were sucessful!
So if your presonality is such that you enjoy working 80+ hours a week, that’s the kind of business you are going to start. If you are more laid back, you are going to start a busniess that DOESN’T require so much time.
Both models work. It depends on the entrepreneur.
Another reason why I dislike organizational hierarchical structures (wow that was wordy). In the largest companies, you have to WAIT a few years to move up. Companies still don’t understand that mobility should stem from value (your brand).
Compensation = Your BRAND
Hopefully someday they understand.
A note on Calacanis’ post.
It’s not just about hiring people who will work 24/7, it’s about people who CARE to put in that time for the good of the business.
@Ryan - It would be too easy to settle on a 9-5. It is those that take the extra step and put in the time required to make something special, that look back on life with no regrets. It’s not easy but once you take that first step, you are making a step towards change and balance in your mind.
@Dan - that’s the million dollar hiring question. Finding the people to work for a start-up for little or no money, and have the same passion as you do, that you are doing something greater than a paycheck is not the easiest person to find. However finding that person is one of the most rewarding tasks in a start-up.
One thing I observed talking to Millennials for my book is that you all tend to have a slightly different definition of work-life balance than Xers or Boomers. It’s not necessarily about creating a separation between work and life so that you can carve out space away from work - it’s about blending work and life so that when you’re putting in 17-hour days, you’re not completely disconnected from your social life or your personal interests. That’s more “work-life integration” than “balance,” and it seems like it’s a better model to support the lifestyle you are talking about. You’re absolutely right, by the way - if you have energy and an idea, don’t waste time sitting around. Go for it. You can go snowboarding later (and fly first-class to boot)!
Great point about the work life blend. I actually wrote about that very thing a year ago called Why I don’t want work life balance. Check it out.
blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/04/02/twentysomething-why-i-dont-want-worklife-balance/
Ryan, I think that’s why I was so surprised by your ending line “work now, balance later.” Seems contradictory to what you’ve written before. I’m curious why the shift in view…
Instead of a balance (where something is always losing) I like to think of my business life and personal as a symphony!
IN a symphony the music is always there - sometimes the percussion is slamming and the woodwinds are just humming. Then in comes the brass - then the strings and I am the conductor standing there waving his arms and just loving it!!
Realize we conduct our lives and the insane passion and desire to work for a 12 hours or 24 hours straight is amazing - then we slow the sound and the familiy gets intense - always the work is humming in our heads.
Imagine your life as a symphony were everyone is needed and what is going on right now is perfect!!
I really object to the idea of work now, live later. I’m 41 with 3 kids, aged 3.5, 2, and 3 weeks. I’m not ready to retire into some scaled back work role. I just need to be efficent. 80-hour work weeks are often 70 hours of wasted time. I agree, I’m not in a position to single-handedly found a company now but I hope to find a life-work balance where my work is creative and valuable, and not just a supporting role. Think ‘quality time’ applied to work and career, not family b/c family should be priority.
“If your goal is to be wildly successful you should be working your butt off from ages 20 to 30 with the intention of reaching the top of your respective field as early as possible. And you should have a loose plan for how you will scale things back when it’s time for kids and a family.”
This seems like a very dangerous statement to me. As you even remark in your post, when you’ve reached the top of your field, get that partnership, or get promoted to VP, frequently the demands on your time only grow. How many people do you know that get this promotion and then step back? Especially if you’ve gotten there through 80 hour weeks and 24/7 availability.
This path can lead to two problems. For one, one of the reasons that people promoted you, or signed on with you, or bought your service was because you put in these long hours, and as such established that expectation. Suddenly scaling things back once this goal has been achieved could leave a bad taste in many peoples’ mouths. And two, if you’ve been working at this goal 24/7 for 5 or 10 years, I’d say you’re going to have just as hard a time breaking those habits and stepping back yourself. You’ve trained yourself for years that it just isn’t what you should be doing.
My thought is that if your eventual goal is to be able to scale things back, you need to keep that in mind from day one, not as a loose plan for the future. Otherwise, it can become one of those things that’s always “in the future” until it’s too late.
I don’t know, Ryan, I’m kind of with you on this one. You’ve generated a lot of debate and criticism, but the folks who argue against your position seem to be pointing out the problems this philosophy might cause for you and your employer moving forward. I don’t disagree with them. But if what you’re really talking about here is entrepreneurship–either on your own or as part of a startup–I think you have it exactly right. It’s hard enough getting a great idea off the ground without trying to find an appropriate work-life balance. If you’re going to succeed, you really can’t let anything get in your way.
I do appreciate the irony you highlight about Millenials having time/focus to dedicate to work but not enough responsibility, but again, for the entrepreneur, this is less of an issue.
Interesting, insightful post!
I’ve read a ton about how Gen Y workers want to get ahead as quickly as possible but I honestly have yet to be sold on the idea that this is a reasonable expectation. I agree with you that the promotion structure leaves much to be desired because, as you say, you finally reach the top of your profession right around the time your kids are flying the nest.
I do, however, wonder at the wisdom of trying to reach the top of your field as early as possible (before you ask, yes, I am a Gen Y member). Isn’t there something to be said about the steady ascension to more responsibility and with it, a broader perspectice?
I don’t doubt that you could become the CEO of a company (either your own or someone else’s) but what value can you bring to the company besides your ambition? I know Gen Y workers are shifting workplace norms and expectations but I still have a hearty respect for older members of the workforce and the years of experience they bring to the table.
Is it foolish to still think age brings wisdom?
Erika, I’m probably not exaggerating when I say that everyone reading your post who is older than 30 is picturing you right now standing in a ray of light through a break in the clouds with trumpeting angels ’round your shoulders.
I also appreciate the irony Ryan is describing, and recognize that career paths and family paths seem to be on opposing tracks. But I’m not convinced that there’s a way around that, or that there should be. Companies recognize that GenY is young. That’s not an insult. Nor is it an insult to describe them as “untested” or even “unwise.” If you ask me, it’s simple: wisdom and maturity comes from experience. They don’t come simply because now would be a convenient time according to your life stage. (And, unfortunately, they also don’t come from a college education, no matter how many years you spent, how expensive that education was, or how high your college loan payments are.)
GenY is college-educated and smart; that’s granted. They bring a fresh perspective and new ideas; also granted. But companies need more than that in leadership roles, and they need what GenY doesn’t yet bring. But give them time.
I’m 38 and I got laid off after my first job about 10 years ago, so I learned the lessons of the new working world early. I had a Master’s Degree and worked hard but it didn’t matter (the company got bought out). From that point on, I decided to take control of my career. I don’t believe in trying to get cheesy awards and praise and find fulfillment in my job like that 60 minutes video showed. Instead I go for the money. I don’t believe in working your ass off for years in the hopes that someone will promote you. For me, the employee/employer model doesn’t work. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. You work hard to learn a skill that will make you the big money not because your boss might promote you.
I’ve developed a take charge, no BS approach to working. I think you guys should too. I love the Millennial’s approach to work-life balance, but instead of trying to find a fun place to work with pool tables and free pop, go for making the most money you can so that you can get out of the working world and do what you love for the rest of your life. Even though I love the Internet, I much prefer doing my own websites than doing them for a big corporation. Most work just isn’t that much fun (never mind the commuting and annoying co-workers!)
The key to making the high rates and to pay low taxes is to start consulting, start a corporation (or even better start your own business) and find a niche market. For me that was IT consulting with a specialized software product. Working hard or lots of overtime does not guarantee wealthy. I make high six figures and rarely work overtime. As someone above said, work smart, not hard. Lots of miners and school teachers work hard and what does that get them?
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but after getting burned early on I’ve focused on my needs a lot more than on the employers needs.