The Business Owner Meet Up
It is well documented that meeting up with your peers is good for your (business) soul. You know what? It really, really is.
I don’t know a business owner who has it all sorted – working the four-day week and not having issues associated with managing people. We are busy. I get it. But we must make time in our days, weeks and quarters to do what nurtures our (business) souls – that is to meet with our peers and chat – and in that time, be honest and lay it all bare. You’ve probably heard it a million times, but IT IS PART OF THE JOB and an important one at that. It is a vital source of energy and clarity that you will need to survive.
Today, I met up with a vivacious, kind, generous and creative woman who I worked for when she led a start-up about 10 years ago. We reminisced, talked shop, family, dogs, husbands and houses – and it was terrific! I felt energised and totally inspired about being self-employed.
We laughed at the tiresome corporate games that we had dodged in our careers and all the pressures of impressing three bosses higher than ourselves. We lamented the short amount of time we have, the crazy stress, the lack of deep pockets to go to for cash injections, yelling “JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” in our heads, as well as the peaks and troughs that is our bank account.
We laughed at the craziness of it all… and how we couldn’t possibly do it any other way.
It is so good to know you have comrades in arms out there. People living the same struggles and trying to cope with the same pressures. But it is far better seeing them, hearing them, laughing and crying with them. You can’t bet that.
P.S. This is really an article I’ve written to myself to remind me to keep making time for my comrades. Even when the diary looks like a picture of those crazy guys carrying 100 boxes on their small bicycle.
