Grappling with change

The only thing constant is change. As a small business owner, you know this well. Navigating the ups and downs of sales and marketing trends, hiring employees or letting them go, adjusting your business expertise to match the marketplace. Change is inevitable.

Predictable change

There are some changes you can anticipate, control and prepare for. You may know your product sales will jump during the holidays. You can predict a seasonal spike in sales and be ready with more inventory, increased employee hours, etc.

You can also be the driver of change. You can take a new direction with your business, plan for business growth, or decide it is time for ownership succession or a business sale. You can map out a specific management timeline and take a series of steps over weeks (or even years) to manage the change.

Unexpected change

Then there are the changes that happen suddenly and are completely out of your control. With the coronavirus pandemic and its related public health orders and business closures, you (like many others) may be scrambling to address the impacts on your business while also dealing with the effects to your personal life. You may be feeling out of control and anxious and perhaps at a loss for what to do next.

Here are some simple yet effective strategies that may help during this unprecedented time.

  • Acknowledge your fears. Think about your fears and write them down. Some of your fears may lose their power once you face them straight on. Recognizing them could lead to ideas for how to deal with them.
  • Seek support. Reach out to others — friends, colleagues, advisors — who can remind you that you are not alone. They can be there for you with support, empathy and accountability. They may be able to give you a different perspective to help illuminate a path forward.
  • Be here now. Mindfulness meditation (even for just a few minutes a day) and other awareness practices can help you relax and stay calm. Meditation can help you focus on the present moment and make mental and emotional space for new insights and perspecive.
  • Remember the past. You have never experienced something like the coronavirus pandemic before. But the way you dealt with past challenges may help you get through this one. What helped in past difficult situations? Did you get support from friends, spend time on self care, actively tackle the problem a little bit at a time each day? Tap into an old practice that worked.
  • Keep moving. Sometimes the easiest first step is just to put one foot in front of the other. Focus on what you love. Focus on concrete tasks. What you accomplish each day, even if small, will help you deal with the challenge at hand.

Above all, remember to be patient with yourself. Give yourself the permission to wait for solutions to come. You will get through this. We will get through this together.

A Birthday Reflection

take a break

No matter what we do, we get older every year! Our birthdays remind us of this fact and we can’t ignore it. It’s my birthday weekend so thinking about change is particularly on my mind.

Early birthdays came with exciting milestones: being old enough to stay out late, attend a concert without parental supervision, borrow and drive the family car, and finally get to vote. Now that I’m at an age when I get carded for senior discounts and asked to join AARP, birthdays take on a different kind of significance. Who is speeding time up?

I think we should celebrate birthdays at every age. There are all kinds of ways to do that — throwing a party, going out to eat with friends, or just sleeping in.

For a small business owner, it’s hard to take time off when the demands of the business are all consuming. Yet we must take a break …and once a year is a minimum! We need to find ways to create balance in our lives and birthdays are a great excuse and opportunity for reflection and celebration.

A Day For Myself
I have made it an annual tradition to not work on my birthday. If my birthday falls on a weekday, I do not schedule clients or teach classes. I spend at least part of the day alone, out of doors and, if possible, out of the city. I’ll go on a hike in coastal Marin, meditate at Spirit Rock or at the Green Gulch Zen Center, or just find a way to sit still somewhere. I reflect on the past year and think about the year ahead and what is most important in my business and in my life.

Getting away from my daily routine is often how I get the chance to think creatively as a business owner. On this annual birthday “retreat” I slow down to reflect on my life, my health, my family and every blessing no matter how small. This day of contemplation with fresh air and exercise does a lot for my spirit and helps me to recharge for the year ahead.

Celebrating the Season
My dear friend Cece, who has now passed, introduced me to the idea of a “birthday season” over a decade ago. It started for her by accident. Her many friends would call to take her out for breakfast, brunch or dinner on her birthday and she would get fully booked up for the day. Then she started making plans for the day before her birthday and the day after. Finally, she announced with great joy and laughter that she was officially celebrating her birthday season, which started 10 days before the date and continued for 10 days afterwards. She invented her own way to celebrate so that she could connect individually with all the people she cared about.

I love this idea and have enjoyed extending my birthday into a “birthday season”. I have introduced this to others and have implemented the concept for family members’ and close friends’ birthdays, too.

A New Tradition
My first grandson was born a year ago and it now makes the month of October even more significant to me. I’ve decided to start a new birthday tradition—spending special one-on-one time with him. This year it may be only a swing at the park but next year he’ll be ready to run the bases!

What is your birthday tradition?