The less television and social media consumption I take in the more productive I am. Television consumption can sometimes be time with my family, so once again we have paradox.

It’s difficult to balance work and life, but then I think that’s somewhat of a deceitful wish when you are an entrepreneur. When we sit in the living room to watch Psyche on Prime my office is steps away, and I could quickly make the choice to leave family to go to work.

The reverse can happen too. I can leave work to spend time with family. That happened today. After I left a customer’s house I made some concierge stop offs at the dry cleaners and the UPS Store, and then I ventured to the house to be with my daughter. I did some Xmas shopping online, and I made deposits into my daughter’s love bank, and even as I type these words that will appear on LinkedIn I think of the importance family will always be.

Time is our most un-renewable resource. There will always be money to be made. There will always be one more vendor or prospect to call back. I didn’t even mention texts or emails. Do I even have to drop the number of other places we retrieve work detail?

When I left the “office” this morning I had to negotiate a very rude College Hunks Hauling Junk driver on the freeway. Nothing happened because I ignored him, but the thought of margin crossed my mind. Margin to me is space, time or money that frees you to make intelligent choices because you are hurried. That driver for College Hunks Hauling Junk must have been pressed for time hence the haste with which he drove.

I’ve been reading a book by Matthew Kelly called The Culture Solution. I’m applying the principles in it to my business Clean Houses. I want Clean Houses to have the kind of culture where our employees do not feel pressured to “make up” for lost time. I realize this is easier said than done. But how many Undercover Boss kind of shows have you seen where corporate demands the numbers get met? I realize there are slow lazy workers in the marketplace. I also realize there are greedy slave driving bosses who demand more than the employees can give. Surely as intelligent people in the marketplace we can find a balance to create more margin.

I’ve worked retail during the holidays when all you do is check out one customer after another. That’s going to happen. A startup may not have enough labor for the demand that comes in, but that’s temporary too. That’s not what I’m talking about. I am talking about companies who choose to see the almighty dollar as more important than people.

This happens one person at a time and one company at a time whether that be a sole proprietor or a business of 10k people. I love the land of opportunity I live in. God saw fit to place me here to make a contribution, and I wake up every morning thankful I have money to make, but most important I have people to serve.

There’s a huge difference between the two, and may we remember, especially this time of year that people are more important than profits.