Karen Dillon

Being on a winning streak is fun. But be careful you don't get addicted to chasing success.

- By Karen Dillon

Every successful entrepreneur knows that building your own business requires you to go all in, and you count on your friends and family to understand that. But when things have started to go really well for your business, the impulse to spend even more time with the company can be great. When you're on a roll, why would you take a step back? Yet if you can't allow yourself permission to take a step back even in successful times, will you ever? Or are you doomed to be like the work-obsessed Logan Roy in Succession, literally dying in pursuit of your next big deal?

The trade-offs of success and balance have been top of mind for Eli Maloley, founder and CEO of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Vivacity Tech, which has earned the No. 1,485 spot on this year's Inc. 5000. Finding time for balance wasn't part of his initial vision for the company, which provides technology hardware to K-12 schools. Instead, Maloley was determined to make a huge impact on education.

"For the first five years of the business, my days would start as soon as I woke up," he says. "I'd have chats and emails to get back to, bright and early. I'd never take breaks, I'd eat lunch at my desk, and often I'd work through dinner." Sometimes, even that wasn't enough. "There were some days when I was in the office as early as 4 a.m.—I'm a night owl, so those mornings were always anxiety-driven—and many other days when I'd stay in the office until 1 a.m."