From sleepless nights to joyful days: Why this entrepreneur walked away from success

Earlier this year, Alexandra Suhner Isenberg announced that she was winding down The Sleep Shirt. After thirteen years of running a cult-favourite independent brand beloved for its Canadian-made sleep and loungewear, it was, as she said in her announcement, time to “put The Sleep Shirt to bed.” She hung up her entrepreneurial hat, and while closing things down, she became an employee again, doing freelance work for other organizations.

The move was all the more surprising because 2023 was the best year ever for the Vancouver-based business. (In fact, the brand will be re-launching with a new owner soon.) For Ms. Suhner Isenberg, who ran the business remotely from Sweden after moving there a decade ago, the decision to sell was about more than the bottom line: The business simply no longer brought her joy – and as the parent of two children about to enter their teens, the dream was no longer worth the sacrifice.

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Here’s more about Ms. Suhner Isenberg’s decision to change gears:

Were there specific moments that crystallized for you that it was time to say goodbye?

There were. We were watching a TV show, and there was a female cop who was a single mom. She had these two kids who were teenagers who were both getting up to no good. I thought, ‘How could she not know this was going on?’ And then I thought, ‘Oh, that could quite easily be me, constantly working at night, not knowing what the kids are doing, not having enough time to talk to them.’

And then the most striking moment was during the pandemic. I took on a part-time job to free up some cash flow to hire two more people [at The Sleep Shirt]. I walked in one day and I saw that there was a computer on the desk that I shared with another employee. I realized that she had gone home on Friday and not brought her computer [with her]. I just could not even fathom that. That was a real moment when I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want that life.’

Was being a parent a large driver in your decision?

[It was] realizing how much I was missing out on – not going to as many of their games as I wanted, not having relaxing evenings – all that kind of stuff. You’re busy because you’re having meetings, you can’t go on vacation and be fully engaged with them.

My kids are 11 and 13, and we’re at that critical point where soon, very soon, they’re not going to want to hang out with us at all. It’s nice that they want to do things together and I didn’t want to miss out on that. I definitely missed out on the baby stuff because I was busy and I wasn’t really present.

You live in Sweden now. Was the move connected to this desire for better work-life balance?

There’s definitely a connection, because people here really value their work-life balance. The parental leave program here is quite generous. There’s a period of time that the father gets, and if they don’t take those months, they’re lost, so almost all dads take parental leave. People take four weeks vacation in the summer and they don’t check emails. Seeing the Swedish way [of working] made me realize I want that.

You’re still transitioning out of the business, but even now, does your life feel better and more balanced?

Yes. I don’t have that weight. Also, being an employee, particularly in Sweden where you have union protection and all that, you have so much more security. That’s a weight off my shoulders.

In saying no to The Sleep Shirt, what have you said ‘yes” to in your life?

One of my jobs is as a freelancer at a marketing agency, and I’m actually learning things. It’s really fun, because I’m working with clients, everyone has a different situation, and I have a team where we all work together doing the same [tasks]. I can talk to people and say, ‘How have you done this?’

Being forced to learn all these new systems, it’s like, wow, my brain is capable of taking a lot of things in.

Have you gotten closer to that mythical work-life balance?

I don’t work on weekends, so that’s a big thing. On days when I’m working from home, I start early so I can take a long morning break, and I do stuff around the house. That reduces how much I have to do on weekends. My weekdays are still really busy, but I’m not catching up on work anymore on weekends.

What would you say to a small business owner who might be feeling the same way you did?

Don’t stick it out just for the sake of having the business. And if you think there’s a chance that you might have to shut down involuntarily, do it now on your own terms.

The way that we planned it meant we could take care of the staff and make the most of the inventory that was left. That allowed me to do it in a way that was also profitable, and on my own terms.

Do you think you’ll ever start another small business?

No, not a product business. I don’t want to do inventory ever again. [laughs]