After over twenty-five years at the helm of Ace Lock Sandra Hunter was beginning to burn out. Ace Lock started as a traditional locksmith service providing security doors, safes, and automotive security. Over the years Ace Lock expanded into sophisticated, electronic security systems and grew into a $1.3 million business with 13 full time employees. Hunter was on the verge of sole ownership after a five-year buyout of her previous partner and it was time to re-energize herself and her company.

“As a business owner you have to take advantage of every opportunity or you’re not going to make it,” Hunter said. “I saw the PowerLink advisory panel as a ‘gift’.”

Ace Lock’s PowerLink advisory panel helped Hunter see that her attention-to-detail management style kept her, and not her staff, perpetually on the hook for the success or failure of any operation. Plus overseeing every detail trapped Hunter into working excessive hours, week after week. Though a strong work ethic is admirable and usually financially rewarding, working— and only working—erodes the enthusiasm a leader needs to lead.

Ace Lock‘s PowerLink panel helped Hunter evaluate all her daily tasks and determine which jobs had to be done by her and which tasks could be passed on to others. Hunter continued to drive her rigorous hiring process, despite the significant amount of her time it required, because her involvement was key to saving the high cost of a bad hire down the road. But, with anxiety, Hunter delegated the critical daily process of dispatching work crews. As she grew more confident in how her staff handled this task, she to began physically stay away from the office during dispatching. Instead she swam laps in the early morning and arrived at the office refreshed and energized for the day.

Now, with a daily routine that includes a preset beginning and end time for work, Hunter has established a more even balance between work and life.