Taking a moment to be candid
I recently said to one of my key customers “the last six months have been the hardest period of my working career ever!” The pandemic has nothing on the challenges PurePac now faces daily.
Don’t get me wrong, on some days everything goes well but on other days, I feel like I’m getting nowhere, stuck in sinking mud and fighting to stay on top of what seems like endless challenges.
This week I’ve had a particularly tough time. I became emotional in a meeting following some unexpected news; I had to excuse myself and go to get some fresh air. Having a Northern Irish father who was brought up during the troubles, typically means I try not to show too much emotion, you know how the ‘old school’ folk were. But my emotions got the better of me on this occasion.
When it is your own business, your own money, your own ideas; every setback, every little thing that doesn’t go to plan, any issues with your team or your customers you take personally, it’s like a kick in the guts. Even with all my years of corporate experience, where “business is only business” after two years of working on the edge, putting in the extra hours, blood, sweat but no tears allowed remember! I now cannot help but take some things to heart.
I keep hold of the knowledge that for every setback you have, it is always followed by a step forward. This has certainly been the case in this last week; one upsetting company setback followed by one amazing new opportunity with an existing customer. For this reason, every day I will continue to choose to show up and see what I can personally do to keep moving PurePac forward, whilst trying to take the setbacks in my stride.
So, in the spirit of sharing (not just the good), here’s a bit of bad and ugly! It feels refreshing to be open and candid. And hopefully, this post will help someone who’s having a bad day to know they’re not alone in their struggles!
How do you cope with the bad days and tough times in business?
Sylvia
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