Entrepreneurs don’t get work-life balance
According to billionaire Jimmy John Liautaud, the most successful business owners have one thing that sets them apart from the rest: They work really hard.
In this context, the 61-year-old founder and former chairman of the Jimmy John’s sandwich chain said he does not believe in work-life balance. Hard Knock School On October 9th.
“Work-life balance [for entrepreneurs] “It is the greatest bull line ever created,” he said. “There is no such thing as work-life balance. “When you’re going to squeeze lemonade out of horses, you have to squeeze it really, really hard… There’s no such thing as creating something out of nothing.”
Liautaud speaks from experience: He said he created a billion-dollar brand despite graduating second to last in high school. He opened his first sandwich shop in Charleston, Illinois, in 1983, at the age of 19, with a $25,000 loan from his father, and spent the next 36 years carefully and persistently growing the business. said “American Optimist” podcast in an October 2024 episode.
For example, for the first 10 years of his business, Liautaud opened stores that he operated exclusively; He said 10 of them were all in Illinois. From this foundation, he eventually branched out to additional locations across the country. Jimmy John’s currently has more than 2,600 locations in 45 states.
Liautaud sold a majority stake in the company, or 65% of the business, to Atlanta-based private equity firm Roark Capital Group in September 2016 at a valuation of “approximately $3.5 billion,” the TikTok video said. HE resigned as president In October 2019, after Roark-owned Inspire Brands Purchased the rest of Jimmy John’s for an undisclosed amount.
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Liautaud noted that, like any business, the sandwich chain’s growth path is not exactly linear or direct. In 2002, for example, he said, 70 of Jimmy John’s then 200 locations were struggling to become profitable.
His answer: Teach franchise owners a lesson in business ethics, he said. “I said, ‘If you’re going to be in the sandwich business, it’s 24/7, 365. If you’re in the cattle business, the cattle need to be fed on Sunday. They need to be fed on Christmas day,'” Liautaud said.
“I started telling people the truth about business,” he continued. “If you’re going to do this, you better be ready to be a grinder.”
Liautaud currently has an estimated net worth of $2.4 billionAccording to Forbes.
Other highly successful entrepreneurs have built their businesses with a similar mindset. Bill Gates didn’t believe in holidays or weekends in the early days of Microsoft, and Elon Musk was known to occasionally sleep in the office and work through the night. Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang said it works “from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep.” During an interview in May 2024 With Stripe CEO Patrick Collision.
Some now prefer more sleep and better time management. Gates told students at Northern Arizona University’s commencement ceremony in May 2023 that he regretted his previous workaholic lifestyle.
“Don’t wait as long as I did to learn this lesson,” Gates said. “Take time to improve your relationships. To celebrate your successes. And to recover from your losses. Take breaks when you need them. And be gentle with the people around you when they need it.”
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