The Conversation With My Wife That Changed Everything
There was a period building our engineering and built environment consultancy to $30M where I was completely consumed by it.
Every win felt enormous.
Every setback felt catastrophic.
Every bad day at work followed me through the front door.
I thought that level of investment meant I cared.
That it made me a better business owner.
That it was just part of being serious about what I was building.
My wife saw it differently.
One night she said something I wasn't ready to hear.
She told me that living with me had become exhausting.
That my mood was dictated by whatever had happened that day in the business.
That the kids were walking on eggshells when I came home.
That she never knew which version of me was going to walk through the door.
It stopped me cold.
Because I hadn't even realised I was doing it.
I thought I was showing up for my family.
I was there physically.
But emotionally? The business had all of me.
And here's what I had to come to terms with:
Business is a long game.
Things will go wrong. Deals will fall through. People will let you down. Projects will hit problems. Some months will be harder than others.
That's not the exception. That's the game.
And I had been treating every bump in the road like it was the end of the road.
The shift for me was realising I had a choice.
When something goes wrong — and it will — you can let it consume you.
Carry it home.
Let it poison the hours that have nothing to do with business.
Or you can deal with it, let it go, and focus on what you can actually control.
That sounds simple. It isn't. But it's a skill you can build.
I started asking myself one question when things got hard:
"Is this still going to matter in 12 months?"
Most of the time, the answer was no.
And that question alone created enough space for me to respond instead of react.
To stay present at home.
To be the husband and father I actually wanted to be.
The business didn't suffer because I became less emotionally reactive.
It got better.
Because I got better.
So if the business is consuming you right now — if your family is getting the worst of you because work is hard —
It's worth asking yourself:
Are you letting the business take up space at home?
And what would it mean for the people you love the most if you chose differently?
To your success,
Josh
PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you right now:
- Grab a copy of my new book | Profitable Engineering Consultant | 9 strategies to grow with confidence, get your time back & consistently hit 30% plus net profit margins – Click Here
- Subscribe to our podcast | Learn how to run a more profitable consultancy and grow successfully – no fluff, just actionable and practical advice from someone who grew a consultancy to $30M and exited successfully – Watch Here or Listen Here + make sure you subscribe!
- Download our free Business Plan template | Map out your Business Plan & grow your consultancy with confidence – Click Here to download now
- Book a 20-minute Business Audit Call | We’ll do a full review & audit of your business, uncover the #1 bottleneck that's holding you back right now & develop a 3-step action plan together for how you can get results faster. You'll leave this call with a clear and actionable plan for what to do next in your business – Book Here
