Dr. Petri I. Salonen Views on Life, Entrepreneurship, and Software Business

Living a Life of International Business

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Living as a parent in international business: identifying balance between travel, family and hobbies

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My son Sebastian started his high school this fall in a brand new high school Byron Nelson in Trophy Club, Texas. Yesterday, I had to drive to the school to get him registered for driving lessons as he is turning 15 in October. I arrived early to the school and had 30 minutes to reflect on things, our lives here in Texas during the past 11+ years and how we have been integrated to this community. I have to say that I felt good about how my kids and wife (and me of course) have been integrated to the society, this place has been good for us, good for my business and I can not believe that even my company will turn 5 years soon.

However, there has been tradeoffs of this life. I have had to spend a lot of time on the road each year to support my family and for anybody living outside the “comfortable zone” in your native country, it is not as easy as one would expect. Cultural differences, issues when your parents age on the other side of the planet; grand kids not having a chance to visit with our parents; not having a chance to help parents when they need you and a million other things that we never thought of when emigrating. These are some of the topics that I will describe in more detail in my new upcoming book and it is fascinating to think about the things that we take for granted when we are younger. I have to say that I am blessed in many perspectives, and it is better to realize this and enjoy every day of life.

Are you ever off your business or is the business running you?

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Running a business is not always fun, if somebody, I would admit that immediately. When you grow your business, you have issues of employing enough people, issues with cash-flow, issues of spending time with your loved ones.When I started my own business almost five years ago, I could not separate my company time and free time from each other and what made things worse, I worked from my home office where I was “on call” all the time. This dilemma does not only concern entrepreneurs, but it concerns also people that work for large organizations. Large organizations are effective in utilizing their employees and we are too afraid to say no, even if we should. Are you one of them? If you are, please do keep in mind that when the company decides to downsize, all of your late nights and hard work will not be of any importance. I have seen this, and I see if almost every week by getting resumes that people send me to join my company. These times are difficult and companies are reacting, sometimes overreacting to things as well. Remember, this is about your own well-being, not about the companies and/or their owners.