NO MORE 24/7

Roe sounds a call for entrepreneurs to turn off their perpetual availability.

In her nonfiction debut, the author, a CPA and management efficiency expert, starts her examination of our current always-on work culture by describing how she was once a part of it. “I could not keep living this way,” Roe writes of the times in her life when she was glued to her cellphone. “I knew that I needed to make some big changes, but it would be worth it.” Her book lays out a blueprint for such big changes, propelled by a simple question that will prove bracing for many of her readers: “Can you honestly say that you only work nine to five, Monday through Friday?” Per the author, the current trend toward work overload, in many ways accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, is particularly acute for entrepreneurs, who already tend to feel like they should be working all the time (Roe has been in this position: “I was very conservative,” she writes, echoing a sentiment many entrepreneurs have felt, “and couldn’t justify putting up the cost for something I could do myself”). In a series of chapters that includes scenes from the author’s own business and family life, the author repeatedly reminds her readers of why they became entrepreneurs in the first place: “Was it to have more flexibility? Was it to be more available for your family?” she asks before challenging, “Do you feel more stressed now than before?” At every turn, Roe comes across on the page as an experienced and compassionate corporate coach. The author insightfully touches on many aspects of running a business, from meeting deadlines to hiring employees, and fleshes out every discussion with examples from her own working experience, such as the time she lost a client by sticking to her own availability schedule. Some of this will sound like heresy to those entrenched in the current work-obsessed/always-available business world, but Roe’s book should make plenty of converts.

A readable and convincing case for re-establishing work-life boundaries.