My week in review: Universal Windows Direct talks Small Business Ownership
/Small Business Ownership. Have you ever wondered what it would be like? This blog post will give you a small glimpse into what it has been like for me this week.
First of all, I should say I am writing this on a rainy Friday morning. I am super casual, barefoot in fact, and alone in the office with the latest Cities 97 sampler playing loudly. On my desk is a large very dark roast from Starbucks and a container of fruit that I picked up at Kowalski’s this morning. I have the freedom to stop and pick things up for my day, just as I have the freedom to snuggle my little girl for as long as she wants before leaving daycare. Other parents come and go while I’m there and I let them. They have bosses, deadlines, meetings and people waiting for them.
I have work.
Enormous, never ending piles of work.
You know when your order a huge salad at a restaurant and you feel like you’ve been eating it forever but it still looks like a full bowl? That is how my work is. Effort and result doesn’t impact volume. It is weird.
Some days I have constant interruptions – the drop everything and do this right now kind of interruptions. Are you familiar with Covey’s Time Management matrix? Those are quadrant 4 days. THE WORST kind of days. I had 2 of those days this week.
Other days I just give in to the work. I literally pile it up on my desk and dedicate myself to touching each paper only one time and just doing it. I don’t care how random the task is or how many programs I have open on my desktop. I just work on eliminating the pile. According to Strength finder I am and ACHIEVER. I need to get something productive done every day to stay in balance. I had one of those days this week.
Still other days I am alone for the entire day and I have the freedom to jump into a project and give it the real focus and time to do it right, and help it move forward. The days I get to put plans and ideas into action to help our business move forward are my favorite. They feed my other strengths of STRATEGIC ANALYTICAL and RELATOR. I also had one of those days this week.
Looking at the last four days, I have at some point or another I have functioned in each of the following roles: • Bookkeeper • Accounts Receivable Rep • Customer Service Rep • Job Estimator • Job Scheduler • Office Manager • Search Engine Marketer • Copyrighter • Project Manager • Office Manager • Graphic Designer
I also managed to work one entire day with my 2 year old in the office with me.
Crazy, right?
Once upon a time, in what seems a lifetime ago, worked for a very large company in Human Resources. I thought I had variety but mostly what I had was a lot of the same. A tremendous amount of the same. I was a machine going through the motions. I was unable to shake the feeling that I was working in an alternate universe. Within the 4 walls of that building, nothing (and I mean nothing) was actually as important as what people thought. The urgency that existed from 8-5 (or 6 or 7) was gone when I got to my car. It seemed the work didn’t matter. I knew that life wasn’t for me.
I came away from that alternate universe with tools and systems and processes. Peggy taught me a mess is fine if you can find what you need. Heather gave me great time management skills like Covey’s matrix and the pink folder daily system. And Mark taught me the “touch it once” philosophy and encouraged me to track weekly progress against goals. I use all of these things. I know that no matter what my week throws at me I can keep this machine moving forward.
Business ownership still contains long days and it does put us in a constant on call situation. Our nights and weekends are interrupted more often than not. But the work matters. We work with our customers making decisions to improve their homes. We offer products people can afford. We help them improve curb appeal. We repair damage. We keep their homes safe. We increase the energy efficiency of their homes and we help them lower their heating and cooling bills.
There is no alternate universe here there is only our universe.
And we wouldn’t trade it for anything.
If you have a home improvement project and are looking for a quote on it, call us. We'd love to meet you.
Author: Melissa Brager
Famous Wife of Steve The Window Guy
