Get yourself some perspective

As I sit here writing this, I am staring out across a large body of water from my campsite in the Manistee National Forest. Seriously…look at this view! Holy shit it is gorgeous.

Sometimes you just need to leave the office and work remotely, whether it is a large forest, a coffee house or your house. We often forget how important it is to refresh and rejuvenate and that doesn’t have to mean a vacation it can just be a change of scenery.

As a small business owner we have a 24/7 work schedule and it can be exhausting, exhilarating and incredibly isolating. Not everyone will understand, care or realize the sacrifices you make to provide for your family and employees so it is up to you to keep yourself happy and healthy. Here is my completely unwarranted advice to you:

1. Don’t take everything so personal.
2. Build a support system of other small business owners. You aren’t alone, there are others just like you out there and they need a drink just as much as you. There are small business orgs in every state, Michigan has www.sbam.org
3. Find your happy place. Mine is in the forest by a large body of water. Even though I am not completely isolated (I am blogging), it gives me peace. I am also not likely to run into anyone from home, which is good because I haven’t showered in 2 or 3 days (you lose track of time out here).
4. Perspective. Get some. One of our clients, Shefit, spent over 10 years getting their product to market. They dealt with manufacturing issues, funding and more. Guess what, Sara didn’t give up. She had 4 girls to raise, a full time job to work and she still kept plugging away at her dream and it eventually paid off.
5. Perseverance. Keep plugging away. Today isn’t tomorrow and tomorrow things will be better.

In the last 3 or 4 years is when 834 finally found it’s groove, like Stella but much more awkward. This has been my life for the last 10 years and it is starting to fall into place – although it is really fucking hard and scary and lonely and confusing. That is what life is all about, the unknown and doing the shit that scares you.