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Meg Cadoux Hirshberg

For Better or For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families Hardcover – March 5, 2012

by Meg Cadoux Hirshberg (Author)

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Discover how to build a successful business and follow your passions without sacrificing healthy family relationships to the financial and emotional rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship.

How does someone who is obsessed live peacefully with others who are not? That question summarizes the quandary faced by company founders and their families. To answer it, author Meg Cadoux Hirshberg examines the impact for better and for worse of entrepreneurial businesses on families and relationships, and vice versa.

Practically, this is a vital guide to navigating the emotional and logistical terrain of business-building while simultaneously enjoying a fulfilling family life. From the trials of co-habiting with a home-based business to the queasy necessity of borrowing money from family and friends to the complexities of intergenerational succession, no topic is taboo.

Psychologically, this book is a reminder that no entrepreneurial family trudges the hard trail of company-building alone. If you have embarked on such an enterprise, you and your spouse will find comfort and guidance in the experiences of others like you. Meg draws on the struggles and triumphs she and husband Gary Hirshberg experienced as he built Stonyfield Yogurt, and also shares powerful stories and insights from other families, gathered through hundreds of interviews.

For Better or For Work will remind you that the long hours and late nights spent on the business or with the family are worth the effort and will give you tools for making both endeavors successful.

Print length

260 pages
Language

English
Publisher

An Inc. Original
Publication date

March 5, 2012
Dimensions

6.2 x 1.2 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

9780983934004
ISBN-13

978-0983934004
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Editorial Reviews

Review

''[One of the] 12 Most Anticipated Business Books of 2012.'' -CNBC.com

''[One of the five] most influential, inspirational business books to be published this year...Meg Cadoux Hirshberg's goal is to instill hope in weary entrepreneurs and to help them better manage the difficult balancing act of successfully running both a business and a family.'' -Entrepreneur magazine

''This honest text...should help to navigate the dangerous pitfalls of allowing a business to come and squat in the midst of a family.'' -Financial Times

''An immensely beneficial, contemporary analysis of what makes modern-day working families really work.'' -Kirkus Reviews

''An indispensable tool. '' -Publishers Weekly

''Hirshberg's candid advice is not just refreshing but could prove essential to the success of a new startup...her hard-won lessons for relationship survival are worth more than a read-you might actually want to print them out.'' -Forbes Woman

''Hirshberg is writing about the elephant in the entrepreneurial room. Read For Better or For Work and you'll clear out a lot of that unspoken clutter between you, your business, and your family.'' -Small Business Trends

''Meg Cadoux Hirshberg has given us one of the best descriptions of the entrepreneurial experience that I have ever read. It is quite simply a marvelous book--beautifully written, unflinchingly honest, profoundly true.'' -Bo Burlingham, author, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big

''Meg brings to life the craziness of entrepreneurship, and offers excellent advice for surviving the madness.'' -Ben Cohen, Cofounder, Ben & Jerry s Ice Cream

''I loved this book! I wish I'd had it when I was trying to start a business and raise my kids. It is wise and wonderful.'' -Eileen Fisher, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher

''My wife, Nancy, and I highly recommend that all entrepreneurial families read For Better or For Work. Knowing the reality upfront, you can prepare for it with eyes wide open.'' --Ron Shaich, Founder and Executive Chairman, Panera Bread

About the Author

Meg Hirshberg is a freelance writer, the author of the ''Balancing Acts'' column for Inc. magazine, a highly regarded speaker, and the wife of Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Yogurt. Although it took nine painful years to become profitable, Stonyfield is now the largest organic yogurt company in the world. Meg has written two yogurt cookbooks and her writing has appeared in Yankee, New Hampshire magazine, and the Boston Globe magazine, among other publications.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0983934002
Publisher ‏ : ‎ An Inc. Original (March 5, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780983934004
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0983934004
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.2 x 1.2 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #134,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,018 in Entrepreneurship (Books)
- #5,488 in Parenting & Relationships (Books)

Customer Reviews:
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Dave Kerpen

Must read for entrepreneurs and their families!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 29, 2012

Verified Purchase

Being an entrepreneur is tough. Really tough. It hasn't just been challenging for me, it's been challenging for my wife and children. My wife happens to be my business partner, so perhaps this has been tougher than usual, but from what I've heard, for all entrepreneurs with families, the balance between our business and our family is challenging.
I met Meg Hirshberg three weeks ago at SXSW where she spoke with her husband Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farm, a $300 million yogurt company and the second largest in the U.S. I met her after reading her book For Better or For Work and being really moved and inspired by the stories I read. I was further inspired after hearing Meg talk at SXSW. Inspired as a busy entrepreneur, but also really inspired as the spouse of an entrepreneur.
Meg wrote the book to share what she wished she had known and done before the many years of struggle while growing both a business and a family.

Here are seven lessons I learned from For Better or For Work, a book I very highly recommend, for both entrepreneurs and their families.

1) Turn off the smartphone. Make time every day for your spouse and children, time completely uninterrupted by emails and other notifications. It doesn't always have to be a lot of time, but it does have to be uninterrupted.

2) Prioritize each other's communications. Respect each other enough to put the other at the top of the queue on any given busy day.

3) Take family vacations. No matter how difficult it may seem to find the time or money, find it. It won't make or break the business and it might make the family a lot happier.

4) Befriend other company-building families. For me, Entrepreneur's Organization has been a lifesaver in helping me meet lots of other CEO's and their families, people who know from experience what the roller coaster ride is like.

5) Take frequent inventory. Ask each other how you're doing in balancing work vs. the relationship. And even ask the kids how you're doing and what you can do better.

6) Give each other a voice. The entrepreneur is used to being a boss, and needs a voice at home. But the spouse of an entrepreneur absolutely needs a voice in business decisions that may affect the family as well.

7) Make family dinners a priority. Find time to all sit together in an electronics-free zone, listening to each other and talking (mostly) about stuff besides the business.

I learned these lessons and so much more from reading For Better or For Work, many of which applied to me as an entrepreneur, or spouse of an entrepreneur, but many of which also applied to me as a businessperson, husband and father.

19 people found this helpful

Helpful

sandy

A Real Slice of Life / Entreps & Families

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 13, 2012

Verified Purchase

No two businesses are alike and no two entrepreneurs experience the same journey but Meg Hirshberg's book, For Better or For Work makes us all seem more similar, more connected. This book shares real stories of entrepreneurs and those living with them, the different perspectives felt by all involved. It's eye opening to see and talk about those other perspectives. This book is a terrific tool to talk about all of the issues of mixing business & pleasure as entrepreneurs usually know no balance. In Meg's Inc. magazine column, Balancing Acts her honesty and deep look into common issues facing entrepreneurs & family have been so enlightening, I knew this book would be more of the well crafted story telling that is Meg's gift. We don't usually get to hear about the nitty gritty in between the beginning and the success of a company, this is Meg's specialty. It's been the missing link and now we can all learn, discuss,laugh at and improve the balance in our entreprenurial lives. I also love the Afterword written by husband Gary Hirshberg, they share a very strong bond that I truly admire. It's beautiful to see Meg come full circle and turn the tables on Gary as she wrote this book and became an "authorpreneur!" Thanks, Meg for giving us all a reason to stop, listen & balance our entrepreneurial lives.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

NR

A must read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 27, 2014

Verified Purchase

A must read for couples where one or both individuals are self-employed. I have been self-employed either full or part time for over a decade. It has been a hardship on relationship and marriage at times. Not everyone understands the sacrifices required in order to succeed as an entrepreneur. However, an entrepreneurs may not understand sacrifices their spouse must make in order to help them see it through. It goes both ways. This was a book both my husband and I read to help us get on the same page. Yes, bills do need to be paid every month. Yes, it can be very rewarding to be self-employed. However, you cannot drop responsibilities, bills or family time in order to achieve a career goal. I've learned a lot thanks to this book. It opened up my eyes to understand my husband's point of view. The book has made a positive impact on our lives.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Santiago Prieto

Meh...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

This book reads of doom and gloom. I was expecting more about the "survival guide" as the subtitle suggests, however, it mostly paints a grim picture for entrepreneurs. I do believe that it's tough for entrepreneurial couples, and that's why I bought two copies of this book (one for my wife, one for me). However, after finishing the book I felt only more despair.

I do believe that Meg Cadoux wrote this book as her personal therapy session. For example, there is a whole chapter on how her husband uses her smartphone too much. I agree, this is a problem, but it's also the 21st century. And if you're going to take that topic on, you better come with good solutions to the table. I am all for bringing in personal stories to the forefront, but the book is missing any type of resolutions to them other than what any husband or wife would naturally say.

If you want to get work-family-life advice for the struggling entrepreneur, look elsewhere. Or look to your friends and you'll get the same from this book. I was looking for help as my wife and I start a company together, so as to set up the right systems from the very start. What I got was nightmare stories after nightmare stories. Very few inspiration stories on success. I know the odds are against us. That's the nature of this game. Yet after reading this book, I still don't know what to do about it.

6 people found this helpful

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thomas_kostrzewa

copreneurs - also Unternehmerpaare

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on August 27, 2014

Verified Purchase

Ein guter Startpunkt, um sich über das Thema Copreneurs / Unternehmerpaare einen Überblick zu verschaffen. Greift etwas zu kurz bei der Rollenbeschreibung, weil sehr im Mann/Frau Bild verhaftet. Zudem verdient das Thema eine Öffnung hin zu allen Paaren, bei denen die Arbeit eine grosse Rolle spielt, also auch Paare, die im Auftrag oder Angestelltenverhältnis agieren, aber eigenständig wie Copreneurs ihr Aufgabengebiet gestalten.

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