It’s that time of year again and people everywhere are coming down with the usual batch of the dreaded lurgies (you might want to read my previous blog on the business owners guide to staying healthy).
But that got me thinking about ‘that’ old TV commercial for soldiering on which it reminded me that as business owners – that’s what we do. We soldier on.
We soldier on not just when we’re sick (although we do that too), but when times are tough, when we’re so crazy busy we can’t stop to breathe, when the global economy goes into meltdown, when we have staff shortages, cash flow shortages, when we have personal crises happening in the background or there’s a huge water heater flood in the building.
It’s almost as if it really doesn’t matter what’s going on under the surface – all most people ever get to see is the business owner calmly floating on the surface of business making everything go according to plan, whilst below the water’s surface they’re paddling furiously against a current threatening to drag them under.
We have no boss to tap us caring-ly on the shoulder and tell us that we’re looking tired and to call it a day or perhaps it’s best if we take sick leave or holidays – like we do for our staff members.
Yet there’s a bit of a myth that as a business owner, somehow we have it made. Apparently, we have all the freedoms in the world, pay almost no tax (how that one ever really made it into print after fact checking I’ll never know) and can get away with working 4 hours a week (cue raucous laughter) and can hire and fire at will.
Now if you’re a business owner who’s been around the traps for a while – you’re probably reading this with a wry smirk on your face. You know the truth.
Success in business is never the straightforward journey between two points we think it’s going to be when we start out. We zig and we zag, we retrace steps, we pivot and we climb a ladder when can and slide down the snake when one comes across our path. In other words, we do whatever it takes to keep our businesses and ourselves moving – preferably in the direction of, if not in our dreams at every possible moment, at least in the direction of profitability or break-even.
At Serviced Offices International, we’ve just celebrated our 14th birthday – a milestone in anyone’s language; especially considering 55% of businesses don’t make it past their 9th year in business (FYI – the 80% fail in their first year is a myth – you can read more here).
When I started this business – it was just me and a dream. Now we have hundreds of clients and a fabulous team of staff who love looking after our clients to the very best of their ability.
Somewhere in between 14 years ago and now, there’s been a lot of calm smiling and paddling for my life. Of course, there’s no way I could have gotten this far without the support of my awesome team many of whom have paddled with me. They’ve given me both encouragement and the time/space to keep paddling as hard as I could. To both our clients and my team I’d like to say a big THANK YOU in writing.
If we can help give you more of your time or space back so you can continue to paddle for your life, we’d be delighted to talk to you. You can call us on 9994 8000 or drop us a note.
