Almost ten years ago, at the height of ISMI’s success - I did not understand balance.

I let the business run me — instead of me running the business.

Early mornings, late nights, working 7 days a week, no exercise, constantly putting out fires (especially when we hit the 5000 user mark at the end of 1997) — initially carving out Sunday’s for personal time, only to give in as we grew and go in to “just wrap a few things up”.

For quite some time, that was my life, and it took a toll on my health, my well-being, and even those around me.

Fortunately, I learned a valuable lesson from that, one that I live everyday — that is:

Balance is key.

Balance in its simplest definition to me is working at work, and assuring time is made for yourself outside of work. Becoming ‘balanced’ was definitely a lifestyle change for me, it took a considerable amount of time.

Once ISMI was behind me, and I had time to become human again - I kept telling myself “If I ever run a business again, one of its core components will be balance”.

If you review ISG’s Vision Statement:

“Balanced, productive living through the efficient use of technology”

you see it right there in print.

If you take a look at our team today, I think you’ll see that balance is one of our key ingredients to our productivity, efficiency and positive attitude.