I’m 66. My fabric store, like your business, is labor-heavy and physically intensive. Pre-Covid, I had successfully pulled back from the day-to-day operations of “working on the floor.” The last few years have required I roll my sleeves up and throw myself back into the work. I am currently struggling to pull back -recognizing how important my efforts are to the bottom line and actual survival of the business. It makes me heartsick to think I built this amazing community and may have to allow it to go away, so I can live a stronger life.
I owned/managed my store for 12 years and it's been two years since we closed, for many reasons but wanting to save my physical and mental health were on that list for sure. In addition to regular 8-10 hour days of standing, running, kneeling, and lifting, plus the mental load of customer service and being in charge of basically every part of maintaining and developing the business, its easy now to see that I never had/made the time to step back far enough to see that it was time to get out. Those Covid-era grants made things easier at the time, but they stretched out the last few years probably past what was a solid effort towards overall profitability for about a decade.
If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to hire a business coach, start saying "NO" to more things, and LISTEN to my financial advisors instead of being so sure that I was the one who could do the thing! I will never get back those last few years of abysmal pay + even more hours + wear + tear on my body. My overuse in the store plus inability to say "no" to helping a disabled family member with their homecare eventually led to a "knee sprain" which was actually a severe meniscus tear that was operated on about four years after the initial injury. This means that at age 44 I have ~10 years until a full knee replacement.
It may seem like there isn't any solution, but there is! It just isn't something you can fix immediately. Start saying "no" to some thing that are draining and "yes" to a small change that helps your physical or mental health, like closing two hours earlier when you are working alone, or hiring someone specifically to move heavy things.
It's like you wrote what was in my head only you wrote it better than I would. I also don't know the answers, and I also don't know why I keep hanging on. Thank you for the validation.
I’m 66. My fabric store, like your business, is labor-heavy and physically intensive. Pre-Covid, I had successfully pulled back from the day-to-day operations of “working on the floor.” The last few years have required I roll my sleeves up and throw myself back into the work. I am currently struggling to pull back -recognizing how important my efforts are to the bottom line and actual survival of the business. It makes me heartsick to think I built this amazing community and may have to allow it to go away, so I can live a stronger life.
I owned/managed my store for 12 years and it's been two years since we closed, for many reasons but wanting to save my physical and mental health were on that list for sure. In addition to regular 8-10 hour days of standing, running, kneeling, and lifting, plus the mental load of customer service and being in charge of basically every part of maintaining and developing the business, its easy now to see that I never had/made the time to step back far enough to see that it was time to get out. Those Covid-era grants made things easier at the time, but they stretched out the last few years probably past what was a solid effort towards overall profitability for about a decade.
If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to hire a business coach, start saying "NO" to more things, and LISTEN to my financial advisors instead of being so sure that I was the one who could do the thing! I will never get back those last few years of abysmal pay + even more hours + wear + tear on my body. My overuse in the store plus inability to say "no" to helping a disabled family member with their homecare eventually led to a "knee sprain" which was actually a severe meniscus tear that was operated on about four years after the initial injury. This means that at age 44 I have ~10 years until a full knee replacement.
It may seem like there isn't any solution, but there is! It just isn't something you can fix immediately. Start saying "no" to some thing that are draining and "yes" to a small change that helps your physical or mental health, like closing two hours earlier when you are working alone, or hiring someone specifically to move heavy things.
It's like you wrote what was in my head only you wrote it better than I would. I also don't know the answers, and I also don't know why I keep hanging on. Thank you for the validation.