First Year Reality Check

January is the 8th month that my wife and I have been in business. It has been a wild ride! We have been able to grow the business every month over month, which has been fun. However, with growth comes growing pains. In mid-January we acquired another account that asked to be cleaned during the day due to security issues. We already had a few small day cleaning accounts that I’ve been able to handle easily and so we thought that worst case scenario, if we couldn’t staff this larger account that I could cover it until we found someone. 

Well, unfortunately, we were unable to find someone to staff the account before the account began. I’ve had to cover the account along with several others all while trying to run a business. This account added 5 hours a day of work 3 days a week. Along with the other accounts I’ve started to feel the stress and pressure of now working over 75 hours work weeks.  

As you can see from my selfie from today, stress leads to health problems. I’ve acquired my very first sty. It’s in my left eye. What you can’t tell from the photo, is my right eye is now twitching uncontrollably. Both conditions are brought on by a combination of stress and not enough rest. 

As you can guess, I don’t have a lot of time tonight to write in my blog, but I felt I should share a bit of reality of the first-year struggles of building a small business from scratch. The revenue growth in the business is thrilling! Hiring people and helping them fulfill their dreams is so satisfying! However, with that revenue growth comes staffing problems. With more employees comes more management. If I continue work in my business (in the field) and not on my business, then my wife and I will never reach our dreams of a 20-hour work week (or less). 

I knew the first year would be the hardest. I knew that continually growing a business would be putting myself into some uncomfortable positions. My wife and I are pushing through and realize brighter days are coming. We’ll keep moving forward towards our goals. 

I’ve got to get to bed and get ready for another work week ahead. I have at least one interview scheduled for this week, so let's hope it is someone willing to help and join our team. 

Goodnight