02/24/2022
The unfortunate truth of owning and running a business.
Running a business is really hard.
What they don’t tell you is that it can cause severe stress and anxiety, and drains you mentally to the point of depression in even the most laid back people.
People will talk about you, compare you to others, use you, they will view you as a service and not a person anymore.
Friends and family will expect discounts and people will value you and your hard work less than a big chain store.
You have to worry about if you forget to email/message someone back, are they going to think it was on purpose? Did you disappoint them? Will they hold that against you? When in reality you just can’t get to everyone’s messages and emails.
Starting up and running a successful business puts incredible strain on personal lives and relationships, many of which fail because there is just often no work life balance. You need to be the director, the worker, the admin, the marketing team, the accountant, the cleaner..... All whilst being a parent, a husband or a wife, family support, friend... it’s one of the hardest things you will try and balance. There’s never enough time in the day to get everything done and when people question why you can’t do it all, it’s extremely irritating. When you’re trying to raise a child while working, it takes even longer to complete the simplest tasks. Then you get criticized because you didn’t do enough. The house isn’t clean. The sink is full of dirty dishes. The laundry hasn’t been folded in ages. As a wife, you’re expected to raise the children, take care of all the household chores, and work full time while the husband just goes to work, comes home, props his feet up, watches tv, eats his dinner, showers, then goes to bed.
There’s a reason you don’t see many people succeed in small businesses after 5 years. If they are successful they are overwhelmed. It takes a toll. It’s freaking exhausting. Especially the past couple of years when so much has been out of our control.
Here’s a small reminder that we are just normal people with hectic lives. Be kind, be patient, support small businesses…….and hopefully more of us will stick around!
