Are you friends with a business owner? If so, let me be the first to welcome you to the dark side. To let you in on a little secret, as a business owner, we drink wine…LOTS of wine! I also feel compelled to let you know that we run in a million and one different directions at any given moment and can hold 3 vastly different conversations at once. It’s almost like a super power, really. But we also know that it’s not easy to keep up with us, but we promise our friendship is worth it! Listed below is The Girlfriend’s Guide To The Business Life, which are some things that business owners, like myself, want you to know!
The Girlfriend’s Guide To The Business Life
“We need you. We need your bluntness and rawness to smack us back to reality. We need you to come to us and remind us to stop letting our business dictate our worlds“
1. We aren’t loaded.
In fact, we are broke most of the time! Many of us gave up a 9-5 job with a steady income to chase whatever dream was calling to us. The first couple of years we are just trying to figure out the smallest amount of steps to take to get the best ROI (Return of Investment).
So please, be understanding. Understand we can’t always go out to that 5-star restaurant that serves our favorite 6-course meal. Understand as much as we want to indulge in the finer things, we’re trying to build something for our futures and sometimes sacrifices have to be made.
2. We care, even when we’re not always present.
We tend to break that coffee date we scheduled with you two weeks ago because our employee called in sick again. We rarely have the time for self-care, working out or eating healthy. But listen, we promise, it has nothing to do with how much we care about you, our social lives just start to slip away before we even know what’s happening! And our families take a back seat too, so you’re not alone.
Remind us. Our lives can get so chaotic, we’re running in every direction, so we appreciate your flexibility more than you will ever know.
3. We can’t plan six months from now.
Our lives are dictated by our business, as hard as that is to admit. We have little free time and the free time we do have is usually invested in the business or catching up with our husbands, or running our kids to and from every corner of the world. So when you try to schedule that coffee date, we don’t know what our day will be like tomorrow, let alone a week from today.
Please don’t stop inviting us. We really do try to make an effort and feel horrible when we have to cancel. It truly takes us a million and one times before we actually hit send because of course we are filled with regret every time we have to make that call or text and cancel yet again.
4. We don’t know what a comfort zone is.
We’re not only the business owner, we’re the buyer, the accountant, the salesperson, even the janitor. We wear every hat imaginable because if we don’t do it, it will neve get done. Every day we carry the weight of every task, every decision, every detail because we know it could all make or break us. So comfort zones no longer exist when we’re trying to make our dreams come true.
Your stability means the world to us. When you can roll with the punches like we have to, it’s a huge deal, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.
5. We are overly stressed.
In our world, we tend to program ourselves with the mentality of “ you snooze you lose, girlfriend.“ We work from sun up to sun down, skip lunches and dinners, and some days we survive on just a handful of junk food, 6 cups of coffee, and of course, 3 bottles of wine! We know this eventually leads to sleepless nights, anxiety, and our “go-getter” motivation no longer exists so your support means everything.
We need you. We need your bluntness and rawness to smack us back to reality. We need you to come to us and remind us to stop letting our business dictate our worlds. We need you to remind us that time is precious and we are allowed to take an hour a day to make those unforgettable memories. And that by taking some time to ourselves, our business will not fail in that hour.
6. There is a plus side, we promise.
If you made it all the way through The Girlfriend’s Guide to Business Life and still want to be friends, you’re a keeper. You’ll never find anyone more loyal, who will jump at the first chance to help someone in need. We are independent, adventurous and can quickly make decisions like nobody’s business without regret. We return favors 10 fold and know the value of a true friendship. Keep on us, keep being there, and keep being patient. Things will eventually slow down for us and we will make up for all of the missed plans. We look forward to them just as much as you do… Oh, and we’ll bring wine.
Article Courtesy of Karen Holcomb, owner of Boutique Marketing Studio & the blog “My Life, Your Entertainment”, a real-life, non-sugarcoating platform that talks about all of the things she’s passionate for: life, marriage, kids, marketing, hobbies… you name it!
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