No Matter How Shit Things Look There Must Be Something Good About Your Situation
I was just writing a massive whinging post about how crap my week was. But I quickly realised that this is not who I am or what I stand for.
I won’t lie. This week has tested me. I’ve felt a seething rage inside me all week that I just can’t get rid of.
Late last week, I discovered that one of my most reliable staff members was working part time for one of my competitors which is a massive conflict of interest and incredibly dishonest. I’ve also discovered that one of my other staff members has been slacking off to the point where she will need to be removed from my business. And then, just for entertainment, my Mac Book decided to go on a constant reboot cycle.
So now I’m sitting in a shopping centre, writing this post on my phone, while I wait for an Apple Genius to take a look at it. He’ll then tell me how much money I have to hand over to have it fixed, even though I have no money of my own since I haven’t paid myself a wage in 2 years.
Sounds grim doesn’t it? I’d be telling a giant fib if I said it was all fine. And don’t take this as a cry for attention. That’s the last thing I would do. I prefer to focus on the positives in life while I work on a solution to the various challenges that rear their ugly heads with an impressive regularity.
So what positives do I have to hang on to right now?
- Well, my gorgeous wife is always there, providing her constant support. She’s been incredibly patient these past couple of years. But even she has admitted that if I can’t turn this business around in the next 11 months, I’ll need to return to the drudgery of being an employee again.
- I turn 40 this weekend so I’ll be with my family and friends for the next few days. The getting older thing doesn’t inspire me with positive vibes but I treasure my time with my family so I can’t wait to see them again.
- My Fitness is rapidly improving to where it was when I was in my mid-30’s. I love cycling, so I’ve been combining this with weight training which is proving to be an excellent combination.
- And I have all of you, my Steemit friends. If I’m feeling frustrated and need a laugh. I can always jump on Steemit and discord and chat with some friendly people who seem to spend just as much time as me in this wonderful place.
The thing that I need to constantly remind myself of is that, while things seem shit right now, it’s quite likely that I’ll look back on this time and wonder why I was getting so worked up.
It’s good to always look at things from a distance, so you can more readily see the problem from the right perspective. But if you’re caught up in the nitty gritty details, the problems you’re facing always seem so much bigger.
And all of these problems bring with them new opportunities.
- Maybe I need to fire everyone and hire a completely new team. Would that be the end of the world? Probably not. It might even be an excellent move for all I know.
- Maybe I should just close the doors of my business, sell all my belongings, and move to Thailand. At least then my Steemit earnings will look incredibly impressive.
- Or maybe I should just sit back, shut my mind off for a little while, and wait for this rage to pass so that I can think clearly again and come up with a real solution.
That last point is probably the smartest. Look, the rage is passing already!
Thanks Steem Team!
Dude.... Sounds like the week from hell! Kudos for listing and reflecting on the positives! Such a great exercise. I never make important decisions while emotional. Give yourself some time to logically process the circumstances and then you can make a decision confidently.
What sort of Business are you running? Working for a competitor is such a huge no no. Is she taking your IP with her to the competitor? Makes me mad just thinking about it.
I own a gym so the risk is taking a large percentage of my members to the competitor.
I’m deliberately holding off on making a decision on this one until next week. I need a pretty solid plan in place to deal with this competitor.
Frustratingly, the owner of the gym that she is working for also used to be my employee. Who did take a lot of my IP. Thanks for your response. :)
Ahh this explains why you are always at the gym while on discord! Haha. Good luck with it!
Hope things get better for you mate. It's always darkest before the dawn (I think)
Once the rage passes you will think more clearly. Sounds like you might be too trusting, too nice a boss. Got to turn up the heat in the kitchen maybe?
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Time to become the arsehole boss me thinks.
It is very dark before dawn. Also quite cold. :P
Hardest thing I ever did as a business owner was shut the doors and lay people off. They were the best employees I could ask for and they were the only ones working in their families at the time. That hurt a lot.
The second hardest thing I did was fire someone and pare another person's hours back. The person I fired was just not getting the job done and was actually defiant about things, and it took forever for me to do it. When I finally did it, I realized it was the best thing for the business (even though it meant me taking over her duties), but as a person, it still bothers me. It didn't help that she was diagnosed with a mental illness a short time after that.
I didn't know that at the time of firing her, and I couldn't have done anything to help really, and now the few times we run into each other she seems to be okay with what took place—it may have actually led to her being treated for it—but I know I never want to be in the position to have to do that again.
So, I find the way to be my own boss without being a boss, because I can't find it in myself to go back and work for someone else, nor do I want to go through the process of letting people go.
I'm afraid that some of us are just not wired to work a 9 to 5 for someone else. Then there's me, who doesn't want to be someone else's boss either. Not a whole lot of wiggle room in between, is there? I'll be 52 this year, and my wife is also patient, but she's approaching her limits.
Not sure if any of that makes sense or applies to your situation, but if anything does, this might—stay true to who you are and do what you believe to be just and true and the rest, as they say, will work itself out.
What you've said definitely resonates. I'm also not designed to work the 9 - 5 or be an employee.
It sounds like you went through quite a hard time there. I can't imagine how hard it would be to fire your staff and close the doors to your business.
I joke about it, but I actually can't imagine doing it. I actually really enjoy spending time with the members of my gym. They are genuinely great people. And my staff are mostly good people as well. Even though one of them has been incredibly dishonest and another is very lazy.
Have you written about your past experience at all? I'd like to read about it if you have. If you haven't, it sounds like it would be a fascinating story to tell.
I hadn't, until now. I've been thinking about it, though. Shutting the doors on the business is a classic tale of government vs. the little guy, so I'm sure it will be riveting reading!
I'm not sure how much detail I want to go into, but I'll try to hit the highlights. I have some other posts in mind first, but I will get to it.
As far as actually shutting down a business and letting people go, I wouldn't wish that on anyone—business owner or employees. It's just heartache all around. Didn't help that mine was a continuously running newspaper from 1890. You know, surviving the Great Depression and every economic recession in between.
Anyway, I'll save that for the post. When I get to it. I promise. :)
Definitely put that story down onto Steemit. It sounds like it would be perfect for this platform. I look forward to reading it.
Indeed. Me too.
I can totally relate. Don't like the 9-5, hated being a boss, hated having a boss. I'm in a good place right now, but there were a few things I learnt the hard way.
My advice is, don't be the asshole boss, but don't try to be friends with your employees either. You need to keep them at arms length or they won't respect you. You need to treat them fairly or they won't put the effort in for you. Somewhere in the middle is best.
this is one of the most interesting responses to an article I've read so far. Being provided with further business ideas by other users for sure gives a feeling!
That says something good about you, @mazzle!!
Reading this, I remembered also a business idea of mine which nobody was interested in so far. Okay, that was, when I started here in the first two months and wasn't taken seriously :-) LOL
I guess I should look for people who would like to make it happen. It is an app which can be used for "intuition training" & I think, it would be a smart thing.
I am curious how the idea of being rewarded for training can be realized. It sounds like a lot of fun for sure!
Hello Erika! I have been very fortunate to meet some fantastic people here on Steemit. And the little community of people that I’ve fallen into provide excellent advice and have been a real support network.
An app for intuition training would be a first I think. It certainly sounds like something that would have an audience.
I wonder if it could be similar to Sweatcoin which rewards people in a cryptocurrency for exercising outdoors?
Maybe write a post about the idea and see how people respond? You have a lot of very smart people following you from the Steem Stem Community. I’m sure they’ll have a good insight into whether or not it would work.
Thanks,
you sure are surrounded by a great community. And maybe you can work out something on this idea - if not, it was worth the fun dreaming about it:-)
About my app-idea: actually, I have written an article, but as I said, that was back then and maybe response will be different. Also I would probably take another approach. Don't know if the SteemSTEM community won't tar and feather me for Sheldrake is a very controversial discussed scientist. He turns everything upside down. But I find him fascinating. If you have time, read my post and tell me, what you think from a consumer perspective:
https://steemit.com/technology/@erh.germany/are-you-telepathic-join-in-for-a-science-project-and-resonate-inspired-by-rupert-sheldrake
Hang in there. @mazzle
Are these employees personal trainers for gym members ? do you employ them on revenue share or flat salary ?
Thanks itstime, my set up is a little different in that all of my employees are permanent staff. It makes it hard to fire them but also gives them the confidence that I value them as team members. Most gyms wouldn't use the structure that I do, but most also have a much higher turnover rate. It's also why, when one staff member turns bad, that it's such a stressful time. I invest a lot of money and energy into my team.
I can be totally off base on this...but wouldn't they be more vested to stay and keep clients @ your gym as well if they get some incentive per client ?
More people they bring in more potential for them to earn , kind of a deal !!
Base+ per client
They already get a commission. So it's kind of confusing to be honest. Then again, I'm not sure personal trainers are all that good at math.
Dayum...
nice way to look at things @mazzle. keep on keeping on my Down Under brother :)
Thanks Buddy. There’s always a silver lining somewhere. :)
if there's a "keep calm" poster about it then it's gotta be true. you got a new follower :)
Must be true indeed. Thanks :)
Chin up dude! I run my own business as well so I feel your pain. It took me three years to pay myself a wage! I also turned 40 last year so it feel that too! All I can say is just keep on keeping on! As long as you’ve got your family and friends the rest will work itself out!
Thanks mate. Three years must have been incredibly tough. I think I'm looking at the same timeframe though.
Family does help a lot. Maybe not financially, but at least I know we can always crash on their couch if it comes to that. :P
I was lucky because my wife’s job pays well, so we could live off that. There were a few moments though where I would look at it and see all the money I’d pumped in and all the time and effort as well and the bottom line was still red. It can be brutal.
Staff can break your heart man. I had one girl with me for two and half years and then one day she just quits. No notice, just tells me she’s leaving. I asked her to stay for 2 extra days and she refused. Six months before that her daughter got sick and we’d paid some of the bills for the tests and treatments because she was struggling to pay for it. I felt like saying “ you don’t mind it when I pay for medicine for your sick kid, but you can’t give me two extra days when you resign.... The good ones can make it all worthwhile, the bad ones kill you!
Holy shit, that sucks. My wife also earns a decent wage which makes life a little easier.
Staff will always look out for themselves first sadly. We'll always be more passionate about what we do but it never stops us expecting the best out of people.
I've pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into this place so if it goes belly up I'll be pretty cut up. But I've learned to stop fearing that, I'll go insane if I think to hard about it.
My team are generally really good people, but I've also learned that my business cannot be built around them or reliant on any one of them. That was a hard lesson to learn and I'm still setting the place up so we don't have that reliance.
Are you still in business or did you move on from that?
bro why down vote me
plz bro remove down vote plz
Hi @lokeahprakash,
It was probably because your post was plagerised. Ive now flagged you as well. Make sure you give credit to others work.
Don’t mess with @nathaniel 😂😂😂😂
Thanks mate.
ok i understand plz remove the flag
No mate, you don't get flag removals for plagiarism.
Sorry to hear that you're having a tough week, but I'm happy to see you taking an accounting of the positives in your life, as well. Yin and yang. Things are just slightly out of balance, but completely recoverable.
Dealing with employees, whether as an owner or supervisor, can be a challenge. What can help is taking the emotion out of the equation when disciplining or otherwise dealing with an issue. For example..
I'd tell the employee that you value her and both appreciate and depend upon her reliability. That you've come to understand that she's working at a competing gym and you're trying to find out both why that is, and how it can be best resolved for both of you.
Are you sure she knows it's a conflict to work for both? If she has access to client information, your gym's financial information, or other important data that you're looking to protect, then I'd lay that out for her calmly and deliberately so she understands why this dual employment can't continue. If she doesn't, then is it really a conflict?
I'd also suggest breaking the issue down into two, separate conversations. The first being fact gathering. The second, the next day, the resolution. This affords both of you an opportunity to reflect on what you've both learned and to make an informed and seasoned decision as to how to proceed...
Hope this helps, my friend...
That’s very sound advice @braveboat. I’ve had the fact finding conversation but have held off on the resolution conversation until I get my head around the situation.
I’ll probably be having that conversation today actually.
I don’t think she does understand the severity of the situation but will certainly find out today. We’ll see how it all pans out. Thanks for the advice. :)