When I first started this company thirteen years ago, I bought into every misconception of being a business owner.
- You set your own hours.
- You are your own boss.
- You can take unlimited vacations.
- You don’t have to work with a team.
- You get to do what you love.
Here’s what that really looks like…
- I don’t set my hours, my clients do. They expect availability…availability that often goes into the evenings or weekends by way of phone calls, texts, dinners and events. Some of my clients are early-birds and some work late, no matter which, they expect quick and sometimes an immediate response.
- Laughable. I report to my clients. I support my employees. They are all my bosses – drivers of my day-to-day.
- Baring a pandemic, I took my first vacation in three years this year and it was cut short by an urgent issue. And even if it wasn’t, it’s interrupted by phone calls and emails and…so on.
- I certainly don’t want to do everything. And I know I don’t know everything. I have to surround myself with a strong and talented team to provide the best solutions for my clients.
- Maybe I started this business to do what I love, but that turned into a million other things, most of them I don’t love. …
I sometimes feel like a battered, bruised, banged-up mess. I still question decisions I’ve made yesterday, and even five years ago. I beat myself up constantly and can never quite meet that bar of expectation I’ve set for myself.
The Great Recession, a pandemic and thirteen years later I look back at the decision to start my own business and…
- I am grateful for those after-hours messages, because I’m needed.
- I’m proud to work with my clients, partners and team because they are pretty special.
- I’m looking forward to that uninterrupted vacation (aka Retirement) but I’m not ready.
- I love bringing unique solutions to my clients and have some incredible people helping me do that.
- I still do marketing (which I love), but it’s about so much more than that.
To my clients – thank you. Thank you for the relationships, for trusting me, challenging me and growing together.
To my team – thank you. Thank you for having my back, striving to be great and never settling.
To all of you – thank you for believing in me.
