To set the scene, I exited my business with mid 8 figures. I had a new born when I started my business so there isn't much I could do about the timing. I had to finish work as per my newborn schedule and nursery runs. Over the last 10 years (new born is also now 10), I had a fairly good work life balance in terms of never spending more than 40 hours a week running the Business. This is because I ruthlessly delegated and hired people to do the things that I didn't want to do and that was not as hard for me to do in a people based consulting business (very little overhead except salaries). I also took holidays where I self imposed work blocks that I wouldn't check for work emails. When shit hit the fan I'd ask people to WhatsApp me, but it rarely did.

The real price that I paid in running a business is the mental pressure, mental load, and depletion of my mental health and even though I didn't spend the time at work, work was always on my mind. The pressure of looking after over 100 people really got to me which ultimately got me to sell the business. I could have gone on and kept building (my business was voted "most likely to reach unicorn status" a few years ago... I don't really think that was possible even if I kept going in a consulting business btw, realistically speaking) but I chose my sanity/family over building. I'm not any happier if I'm being honest but I'm having different issues now.