It is what it is...for now

When you first start your business it is such a leap of faith, and you have such wild and wonderful dreams of how it will be.

The reality however often proves to be very different.  Sometimes the business takes off with great zest, only to wind or slow down at a later date. And for others it is more a timid start, picking up as you learn and grow.

The challenge with any business is you just never know.  Popular one minute, struggling the next.  Any one of us could find ourselves in this predicament. 

I started to think about this because several women I know have had to go back to working for someone else because their businesses were just not bringing in enough money to make it work for the family.

That’s so tough, and what a difficult decision to have to make.  Yet, it is what it is. When you have to keep a roof over your head, food on the table then you have to do what you don’t want to do.  You could say that you have to put on your big girl pants and get on with it.

That doesn’t mean it is easy.  It doesn’t mean that you may feel like a failure. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t second-guess yourself as to whether you are making the right decision.

You probably are.   For now. 

But here are some thoughts that may make it more bearable:

1.              You are brave. You took a risk and learned from it.

2.              Make the most of your time back in the workplace.

3.              You can be intrapreneurial in the workplace too.  Don’t lose your entrepreneurial skills, just use them differently.

4.              Learn new skills when you are there, ones that you could use if you return to your business.

5.              Make new contacts, you may meet some people who can help you down the road.

6.              Enjoy the steady paycheque. (Many of us envy you that)

7.              Sometimes taking a break and stepping back from your business, gives you fresh insights, so next time you know what you need to do.

And keep in touch.  We want to hear how you are doing.

2016 - Lessons learned

My year at a glance...

 I think I started 2016 in retirement mode.  I’d just turned 65 and it seemed time to hand over the reigns and with that mindset I started the year looking at transition, at moving on.   But that was not to be  and now as 2016 comes to a close, I’ve got my mojo back and am raring to go for another season. 

Life is fragile.  I learned this at the beginning of the year when our 32 year old nephew-in-law died of cancer.  Far too young and far too soon.  

We wrapped up the year with the sudden death of my colleague and friend Diane McGee.  Both deaths serve to remind me that life is short and to focus on what you want to do.

When it is important, people show up.   On the worst snowstorm of the season it was the launch date of the One Red Lipstick book.  We had 80 people registered and four speakers who were travelling a distance. Over 60 folks turned up, as well as all four speakers.

Be a role model.  The message behind One Red Lipstick is that we need to step up and be role models for the generations behind us.  We often don’t realize the wisdom we can share.  I’ve since signed up to be a mentor in a couple of programs.

People come into your life for a reason. Pay attention.   Learn what you need to learn, give what you can give. Enjoy the relationship and make the most of your time together.  

Never say never.   I had declared to myself that our conference (the 10^th) would be my last one.  Well that lasted about a day after the event and then I got into gear to plan the conference for 2017.

You don’t know what you don’t know. Especially when you start a new business.  Launching Full Circle Publishing has been an exciting and humbling experience. It’s not easy to be back in the beginner’s seat.

Be careful what you wish for.  Full Circle Publishing was to be my “retirement” project – something I could do from anywhere and which I could manage in terms of size.  In three months we have published five books, with more in the wings.

Smiling can take you a long way.  On our trip to Nova Scotia we received such great customer service.  People took an interest in you, smiled and were happy to be helping you. 

Read the small print.  When you go over documents quickly you can miss important stuff, which can cost you money. And it did.

Laughter is good medicine.   By co-incidence we had our best man and bridesmaid staying with us in time for our 44^th wedding anniversary. We spent an amazing weekend together.  I don’t think any of us have laughed so much in years.  By far the highlight of the year.

Be pragmatic.  When your plans fall through, while disappointing at the time, you need to come up with Plan B and move on. Wallowing in what could have been doesn’t get you too far.  Plus who knows, maybe Plan B is better.

Delegate. It’s not all about me.   I am excited about 2017 – we have some new programs in the works.  I’ve learned this year to delegate and I intend to do more of that in the year ahead.  It’s only taken me 14 years to realize I don’t have to, nor should I do everything!

That’s it.  A month by month take on my year. 

It’s been a busy one – and the one constant is relationships, because it’s the relationships we have with our family, friends, colleagues and customers that can make or break our businesses.

Know when to quit

With the launch of our new book, The Best of Company, I have had to explain the source of the articles in the book.

You see for four years Company of Women published its small but mighty magazine Company which was much-loved and distributed across Canada.  However, the publication also offered me a big business lesson – know when to quit.

As a writer and avid reader, I still strongly believe in the power of the printed word, and the magazine fast became my favourite project.  It took up much of my time as I garnered up articles, sought out advertisers and oversaw the production of the quarterly magazine.

However, as I shared at a recent meeting, it was a money-pit.  Launched in 2007 it faired well at the beginning but with the downturn in the economy, it became increasingly difficult to secure enough advertising to cover the production and distribution costs.

But remember, it was my favourite project, so I kept trucking.  I even convinced myself that it was a membership service, rationalizing and justifying the expense because we were providing useful information to our members.

And I did that for four years.  True it did make us unique and could be classified as a membership and recruitment tool.  But as the bills came in and I was writing cheques for thousands with each issue,  I reluctantly realized there was no way I could continue.  

A good friend, Michele Bailey, of Blazing the Agency, generously agreed to do the layout for the last issue for free, but really it was delaying the inevitable. More buying me time to get used to the idea that it wasn’t financially viable to carry on.

My lesson from all this is that you have to know when to stop; when to pull the plug on a business venture that is just not working financially, no matter how many resources you throw at it.   In other words, I should have made this decision way earlier.

My other piece of advice is to track the numbers. Find ways to measure the results. Ask tough questions. While Company created increased awareness of our organization, when I looked at the funds coming in vs. the funds going out, it wasn’t working.

You have to be honestly brutal with yourself.   No excuses. No rationalization.  If it ain’t working, it ain’t working.

Back to the book, if you have missed our articles or never caught them first time around – check into The Best of Company, which provides 50 of the best, along with a bonus on networking.  Copies of the book will be available at our events and will shortly be available online at www.companyofwomen.ca

Wrong decisions are they just mistakes, or something more?

Photo courtesy of  Stuart Miles, Freedigitalphotos.net

 I recently read a blog in which the writer was exploring the topic of the wrong decisions we can make, but how we need to make them; otherwise we’d be stuck and too scared to take a risk.

It started me thinking.  In her blog she was more talking about the decision to take a job or not; to start a business or not, and she saw them as mistakes when you make the wrong choice.

Somehow a mistake implies something much smaller than a wrong decision.  A mistake is choosing to attend an event that didn’t meet your needs.  A mistake is forgetting to order supplies when you are running low.  A mistake is posting a blog before proof-reading it.  A wrong decision, on the other hand, in my opinion, has much deeper repercussions.

Like everyone I’ve made my share of mistakes but I prefer to think of them as lessons I needed to learn, albeit the hard way.  The key is to learn the lesson, reflect and not repeat it.  Trust me, there’s always fresh opportunities for you to make mistakes.

But when I reflect back on the wrong decisions I’ve made – they have been more major, and all revolve around people.  Such as partnering up with the wrong person and discovering after the “honeymoon” period is over that it is a total mismatch and that we don’t share the same values or goals after all.   Or hiring someone who creates chaos within the team, and having to let them go.

Yes, it has been my judgment around people that has led to wrong decisions – (and I used to be in HR.)  The trouble with these wrong decisions is that they are tougher to resolve, to terminate or remedy.  In fact, rarely is there a remedy if it is the wrong fit.  People rarely change their stripes.

But like mistakes, there is always the opportunity to learn and grow from the experience.  For example, over ten years ago I partnered up with someone to run my first business conference.  While the conference was a success, the behind-the-scenes shenanigans made it impossible for us to work together ever again after the conference was over.  

Yet, he did me a favour, as putting on the conference made me realize I didn’t need a partner to make a conference happen.  In fact I would do better on my own, without all the game-playing, ego trips and temper tantrums which were tiresome to say the least.

So sometimes we can make wrong decisions and reach the right outcome. 

What about you?  Have you ever made wrong decisions and then down the road, realized it turned out for the best after all?