05/31/2023
Team, Friends, Followers, & Newsfeed Swipers-
I’m still not good at the social media aspect of being a business owner. It will come 🤞😬
I once heard a quote about owning your own business. Something like…
“Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hrs a week to avoid working 40.”
In my case, I worked 80 during many weeks for someone else. I’ll gladly work 100 for myself!
Data shows that 60% of small business owners work over 50 per week. Most of the time for no extra pay. No 1.5x overtime rate. No one pays their taxes each “payperiod”. No company provided healthcare. No team to do the job if you are busy, sick, or overwhelmed. No guidance. They are switching hats often each day to perform all functions required to sustain the business!
For example:
I mop floors, clean bathrooms, and pick up after kids and intoxicated party goers. A couple days ago, I was taking out the trash and I pulled the heavy trash bag out and felt something leak on me. When I got into the light, I realized it was a guest’s vomit from earlier in the night. 🤢. To add to it, I still must answer emails and messages, plan for the week, collect money, keep up the financials, network, make business deals or sell to a potential customer, source items, keep up with social media and the website, call people back, get involved with the city, renovate and update the space (I get a lot of help with this one), plan events for the future, advertise, attend important events for other local small businesses, etc….
To go along with that (like I’ve said before) -
I am the worst boss I’ve ever had! The pay sucks, work never ends, my work is never good enough, and I’m forced to do things I’m uncomfortable doing. It’s not all fun and games while raking in all of the money. 🙄
I’ve met some of the local small business owners, so far. Many are working just like I described above. They aren’t rich. They are sometimes barely getting by… and they’d have it no other way. Most of them took the leap to do something they were passionate about. They wanted to spend all of their time & thoughts & energy on building their dream, instead of spending it on achieving someone else’s. Some have risked it all. I’m sure they had failures along the way, as I have.
Jim Carrey said in a speech that his dad always wanted to be a comedian. He was an accountant. He never went after his dream. One day he was fired from his accountant job and later realized …
“You can fail at a job you hate, so go after the job you love.”
I know this post was too long, but the important part is this….
Support our local small businesses!!!
These are your neighbors and fellow community members. Give them a chance. There are talented people around. Let’s help them make their dream come true!
I bet they would help you.
Here are just a few suggestions:
Convert one item to a local small business source. Visit their store again to take another look, or maybe your first look. Ask social media for recommendations, if you don’t have time to shop for yourself. Get involved in city events.
What else can we do to support our local businesses and community?
