Bottomline First: Owners don’t really have anyone to talk to about their problems. Reach out to those in your care.
Outside of a preacher in a small church, I don’t know of a more lonely calling than a small business owner.
I will often ask them, “Do you know what your friends think of you?”
They look at me with stunned incredulity since I had only met them a couple of hours earlier and know none of their friends.
I proceed to tell them, “Your friends think they have it made, they think you come and go as you please, hire people to do what you don’t want to do and write it all off on your taxes!! They think you have the Life of Riley!”
Then they say, “You know, you are absolutely right!”
And I assure them if they try to convince their friends just how hard it is owning a business, they think you are pulling their leg!
And THIS is during the GOOD times! The loneliness is only getting worse in the economic environment of the day!
Many times business owners will become overly friendly with their employees to cope with their isolation knowing they get the day-to-day stresses with which the owner is dealing. But that becomes a management problem within the business and makes it almost unthinkable to furlough them when times get tough.
Business owners are seen as “having it all together” not only by their friends and the public at large but also by their families. I can’t tell you how many times I have interviewed a business owner during an analytical survey of their company who was showing a loss on their P&L only to discover he (or she) had not told their spouse. And let’s be honest, men, we are more guilty of this than our sisters-in-business. That stinkin’ EGO of ours gets us in trouble and then cuts off the support we so desperately need!
So to you advisors of these stalwart but hurting heroes of our economy, reach out to them! They need to know there are people and places that can be safe for them to unmask their pain.
Bankers, attorneys, wealth advisors, CPAs, insurance agents, consultants, accounting firms, HR firms – any trusted advisor in their life can just BE THERE for them and let them know it is OK for them to share anything that is bothering them.
If you are in a role they might not feel comfortable due to the business relationship (like their banker), try suggesting they might want to talk to a friend of yours.
As Charles Dickens wrote in the Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of time…” We have been brutally snatched out of “the best of times” and forced into what is arguably “the worst of times.”
As a man of faith, I would that all men and women would seek guidance from the Creator of us all to lean into Him and His wisdom for our individual and corporate deliverance.
Let’s all be there for each other as we walk through the valley of shadows.
Ralph Watson has a varied and extensive career spanning 45 years of increasingly responsible positions in both sales and operations in a very diverse mix of industry specialties, including food processing, textile and apparel, financial services, and professional management consulting.
Ralph served as a Senior Executive Analyst with a number of international consulting companies focused on the family-owned, privately held market where he distinguished himself as one of the top analysts in a highly competitive field. In early 2014, he personally coached 10 businesses in Europe.
Ralph C. Watson, Jr. 404.520.1030
Ralph.Watson@BeGreaterFaster.com