By Matt Fish as told to Plain Dealer Reporter Marcia Pledger

The Company: Melt Bar & Grilled, a restaurant that features grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh soups, salads and a beer list, offers an eclectic atmosphere filled with nostalgic Cleveland-related mementos. Founded in 2006 by owner Matt Fish, the company has about 200 employees who work in three Northeast Ohio locations. A fourth location is scheduled to open in Mentor in October.

The Mistake: When I opened my first restaurant in a small storefront in Lakewood, expansion was the furthest thing from my mind, considering my first idea was to open a bar that served really good food. I was just trying to get through each day. But the concept of serving comfort foods like grilled cheese took off like gangbusters.

We're open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and I didn't take one day off for the first 21/2 years. My biggest mistake was being so focused on growing my business that I allowed business success to come at a cost of personal relationships.

At first I was afraid to hire many people because I didn't want to have to lay anybody off if the restaurant didn't work out. I would open the restaurant around 8 a.m., receive orders, set up the kitchen and then work on the line in the kitchen for hours. Later, after I started hiring more cooks and other people, I was always either thinking about management, or working alongside employees or making plans to expand. In the meantime, I was doing everything from writing schedules and cleaning up to handling financial issues. I'd be getting out by 2 a.m. Then I'd eat and sleep and do it all again.

As fast as we were growing, I thought it was important that employees saw me in stores. I didn't ever want them to feel like I had abandoned them. The business kept growing, but it came at a price. I lost track of myself because I put everything else on the back burner -- including personal relationships, friends and family. I've been divorced since I started the business, and later I lost my girlfriend. The business isn't the only reason, but building a business is a huge part of your life. I made it every part of my life, so it was the majority of the reason for the break-ups. My attitude with people in my life not involved with the business was, "Give me some time. It's all going to work out."

All I did was focus on my business. That was good for the business but unhealthy for me -- and the people around me. I had to make some changes.

The Fix: I finally realized that when you run a business, not working is just as important as working. You need to find some downtime to balance other elements of your life, including your own personal self, your family and relationships.

This is the first year I started making myself take off one day of the week, and I've been doing it 90 percent of the time. I also started running again, which helps me to clear my head.

Running three miles, three days a week, helped me to realize that having a significant personal relationship in my life is hugely important. Now that I don't have one, I realize how important relationships are and how important it is to work on them.

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Matt Fish, founder of Melt Bar & Grilled, allowed success to affect personal relationships: My Biggest Mistake (video)