In this industry, work can consume you.

Maybe you started out as a one-person operation, grew accustomed to doing it all out of necessity and then had difficulty delegating once you grew your staff and had the opportunity to finally lighten your workload. Perhaps you chose to remain a solo operation and that keeps you constantly busy with work. Promoting 24/7 emergency service to customers is common and is yet another thing that can create that feeling of always being on the clock.

But even when you love your work, the goal is not to have it consume your entire life. Work to live, as the adage goes. Don’t live to work.

Matt Mertz is someone who has a newfound appreciation for a healthier work-life balance. Mertz’s company, Matt Mertz Plumbing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was racking up annual revenue of $6 million and running 27 service trucks when it was profiled in Cleaner in March 2015. Mertz grew the company even larger in the subsequent years. But being the boss and maintaining an ever-increasing growth trajectory came at a cost — long workweeks and less time at home with his family. In the fall of 2021, Mertz decided to sell his business to Armstrong Comfort Solutions. He stayed on as the director of plumbing operations but no longer has to put in the hours he once did.

“Now I work 50 hours a week, not 80,” Mertz says. “I sleep a lot better. I feel a lot of guilt about things I missed out on with my wife and daughters. I let the business consume me. I was hyper-focused on winning and making more money and lost sight of what’s really important. My goal now is to be a better husband and father. Now my nights and weekends are mine — they don’t belong to Matt Mertz Plumbing anymore.”

In this month’s issue, we catch up with Mertz and look at the decision he made to scale back on the work side of his life.

Work-life balance is also a theme of this month’s Better Business feature, which examines the concept of service fatigue and the malaise that can surface at any time from the standard rigors of work. It keeps you from being your best for customers, even if you try hard to hide it, and that can be detrimental to a business over the long run.

It’s great when you enjoy and have a passion for your work, as so many in this industry do. And you often hear words like “family” used by companies with a great employee culture. So it’s easy to see how the work can become all-consuming. That’s OK sometimes. The oft-used term work-life balance is a bit of a misnomer. It’s not necessarily about achieving perfect equilibrium between the two. It’s more about skillfully navigating the give and take. Sometimes work will be more of a priority and require extra time. Other times personal matters need to be center stage. If you have this delicate dance down, congrats. But if you’re struggling, take a moment to think about steps you can take to fix what’s failing you.

Enjoy this month’s issue.