Mac Tools distributor Tim Lyons makes sure to take a vacation every couple of years, because of his wife. He was raised in Nebraska, and his father engrained in him the importance of working hard to show your value. Cheryl showed him that it’s also important to find respite and re-energize by getting away from the business for a while.
“Now that we’re both in our 60s, we’ve pretty much made that commitment that you have to start doing those things,” says Lyons. “We try to find the right balance where you can do a few things while you still can.”
“The thing I like about this job, for me, is I work pretty hard. But when I walk away and go on vacation? I go on vacation. I was never able to do that in some of my other roles.”
He now makes sure to take a vacation for his sanity, and employs this idea of balance with his approach to his business as well.
For instance, Lyons sometimes has to make unscheduled stops to deliver a tool or pick up a payment from a customer.
“It can throw your schedule off. Then you’re chasing money. Part of what I have to sell is being there at this certain time,” says Lyons. “You just have to find a decent balance, that’s all.”
