Juggling Fatherhood and Entrepreneurship

Guest article provided by: premierchess.com

By National Master Evan Rabin, CEO of Premier Chess

By day, I am the owner of Premier Chess, which has 65 coaches that teach corporate classes, school programs, private lessons, etc. By night, I am the father of Maya, an almost- 1-year-old daughter, along with our 4-year golden retriever Max. While I love my family and business, it is not easy to manage both. Some lessons I have learned in my first year of parent is that is is important to delegate, it is OK for some things to wait and one needs to continuously learn.

As the CEO of a company, I run all facets- marketing, hiring, sales, business development, finances, etc. Especially for Maya’s 5-6 months when she did not sleep through the night, it wasn’t very easy to manage all the company tasks and take care of her, along with my wife. For a while, I faultily thought I could simultaneously take 50% of the responsibility of taking care of Maya and run my business smoothly. Therefore, I delegated- we hired a full time nanny and I hired some assistants to run different aspects of our business.

Before I had a daughter, I thought it was imperative that many tasks had to be done in certain timeframes, before they had to be. For instance, I would never go to bed at night if I had not sent follow up emails to all the people I had meetings with that day. Now, while timely follow up is important, I realize there is usually no negative if I send follow ups in the next day or two. Shortly after Maya was born, I realized I lost a potential deal with a client because I did not respond to the school in a timely manner. While part of me is upset that I lost some potential extra income for business, I am delighted I have had the flexibility to be there for my newborn child, which is something I can not put any monetary value on.

In entrepreneurship, chess and parenting, continuous learning is important. When I first found out my wife and I were going to be parents, I immediately started buying some parenting books and listening to podcasts about fatherhood. I have learned the most from The Daily Dad. Likewise, I always keep to date with chess tournaments and podcasts. In addition, I have a great entrepreneur network that I constantly mastermind with.

One’s first year of fatherhood, especially as high-powered entrepreneur can be difficult at times but is overall a blessing. Whenever, it can be challenging, it’s important to focus on the positive and the joy children bring.

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