Marcus built a prison and called it a business
Feb 04, 2026Marcus has a solid accounting practice. Twelve staff. Good reputation. Clients who've been with him for years.
He also works 55-hour weeks. Hasn't had a proper holiday since 2021. His wife has stopped asking when things will ease up because the answer is always "soon."
If Marcus gets sick, the business stops. If Marcus takes a week off, the phone rings until he comes back.
He tells himself the clients need him. That his standards require his involvement. That nobody else can do it the way he does.
Maybe. Or maybe Marcus built himself into the centre of everything because the alternative terrifies him.
Here's what the alternative feels like to Marcus: irrelevant.
His mother's love was conditional on usefulness. Be helpful and you exist. Stop being helpful and you disappear. Marcus learned before he could articulate it: my value is what I do for others. Without that, I'm nothing.
So he made himself essential. Not because the business needed it. Because he needed it.
That's subconscious programming. It looks like high standards. It looks like dedication. Underneath, it's a man who can't rest because rest feels like death.
His competitors take August off. Their practices keep running. They built businesses. Marcus built a life-support machine with himself as the patient.
No efficiency consultant will fix this. They'll streamline his processes and he'll fill the space with more involvement. Because the problem isn't the business. It's what "unnecessary" means to a man who was only loved when he was useful.
Perry Mardon
