'I shrank my business for work-life balance'

'I shrank my business for work-life balance'

Emma Hine left the corporate world to run her own company in search of a better work-life balance

A woman who runs an e-commerce business says she has intentionally reduced its size after discovering it did not give her the freedom she had expected.

Emma Hine, from Leek, Staffordshire, said that after working in the corporate world, she launched her own company to achieve a better work-life balance.

The business, which sells greetings cards online, "started, like most business, from the dining room," she said, and went on to reach a turnover of £1m per year.

However, the impressive financial success did not bring happiness. "For me, it was probably the worst time of my life," Hine told BBC Radio Stoke.

Hine said she had no time to enjoy the money she was earning, as she was working 80-90 hours a week and felt she had to carry her laptop with her everywhere.

"Even checking emails on Christmas morning, because the business literally consumed every single minute of my day – every conversations at home was about the business," she said.

She added that it felt as though her young children had to "book time" with her, and that she was missing school plays and other family moments.

Hine said she only realised something needed to change when her youngest daughter was in hospital with an illness during a particularly busy period for the business.

"I was trying to do what I could to help the business to keep going while I was in hospital with my daughter," she said.

"I knew then that this was not what we wanted. I should not feel like I need to be at work when I need to be with my daughter."

Hine added that many people had built businesses that left them without the work-life balance they had originally hoped for, and she now works to support others who feel trapped in that position.

As a Business Growth Strategist and mentor, she now helps business owners simplify their workload so they can achieve more by doing less.

She advised that people should be clear from the outset about what they want from running a business, so they can make sure it remains manageable.

After the personal tragedy of losing her eldest daughter to cancer in 2023, Hine said she was certain that scaling back the business had been the right choice.