Hey there— Alex here,
Stepping into the unknown goes hand in hand with trying new things. My experience as a business owner has thrown me into a lot of these unknown waters. Some of which I’ve jumped into willingly, others I’ve been forced into.
It’s scary, but facing things head-on builds confidence that the disaster might hurt a little but won’t kill you.
You have to gamble a lot in this industry because it never stays the same. Sales that are up one month may dip the next. Your team might be perfectly staffed one day and the next you’re frantically trying to hire.
You never know what’s going to happen, but you have to keep calm when these mini-tornadoes hit your world. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned from people who have been in this industry way longer than I have.
They’ve shown me how to expect nothing from the day and how to absorb the aftershocks from the earthquakes of change around their shops. They are the stoic pilots of their ships, and nothing scares them because they know the secret.
The secret is how to deal with the unexpected; they know it will pass, that as long as they continue to work hard, be honest, and believe that things will calmly work themselves out, they usually do.
It’s important to me that I don’t add to the chaos myself by giving into anxiety, fear, and even depression.
It’s a fucking cold industry; there isn’t a ton of money in it, and it’s a huge amount of work, especially if you care deeply about everything.
You really have to love it. And to love it means making sure you can find the value in the pain, and the tornadoes of change however terrible it gets.
“All things are difficult before they are easy.”
Thomas Fuller
