A Summer of Fears
It’s a time of apprehensive moments for the entrepreneur. Some many things happen during the summer that can cause the small businessman a lot of stress. As people vacation, they may be buying less of what you have to offer; unless of course your business revolves around tourism. You yourself may be contemplating time off. Holidays like July 4th in the U.S. almost force you to take time off. The stress from all of this for the entrepreneur is that so much of ourselves is wrapped up in our business that we hate to leave it for even one minute. Taking a whole day off is almost unheard of. And taking off a week? Forget it!
On a side note, I have had to come to terms with the fact that I am an entrepreneur. I didn’t see it that way for a while, I think mostly because I don’t sell products as much as I do services. The more I looked at it, however, the more I realized that I am still very much so in the entrepreneurial spirit. So, like others, I stress during this time of year.
Off to Camp
As I am preparing for the July 4th holiday, I am also preparing to leave this Saturday to take 19 Boy Scouts to Summer Camp at Camp Raven Knob in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Great camp! So extremely well run that after visiting last year we immediately voted to go again this year. As a leader within the troop, I must go to make sure there is appropriate adult supervision. Who’s going to supervise me, I don’t know. : )
This decision to go did not come easy. I worry that I should be working, generating income, developing new programs; all kinds of things that keep my business going. Lost productivity time. The expense of making the trip, especially critical in the face of unforeseen expenses in other areas this year. I toyed briefly with bowing out.
In the end, I decided to go. I don’t know if my reasoning will help you in your decisions or not, but here’s what I came up with. The value of what can come out of this camp for the boys and the influence I can have adding to that value in my opinion far outweigh potential losses. These opportunities are rare, particularly with my own children growing older. I also had my integrity to think of, both my integrity with others and with myself. I had made a commitment that others were counting on. It’s important, again both for myself and for what I teach the Scouts, to fulfill my commitment no matter the cost. If you don’t have trust, you have nothing. Even more so, I needed to trust myself. As an entrepreneur I decided that I simply needed to trust in my ability to produce, trust in what I have to offer, and in my resolve to survive and even thrive no matter what. It won’t be easy and it will mean a lot of hard work when I return, but I was planning to work hard and smart anyway.
So, breathe! Take a few moments and re-charge! Trust yourself and your abilities! Enjoy the moment!
P.S. I will confess that there is a Scoutmaster’s Hut there with wi-fi so I won’t be completely disconnected and I am going to take some time doing some necessary planning and working on my book; so the week won’t be a complete loss.