Time Off
Good Tuesday Morning!
As any business owner can attest to, taking time off is something we just don’t do! Since its beginning 4 years ago, I have been pushing myself beyond my limits to build my business. As many of you know, the business has been through several changes throughout the past 4 years. The most recent was my decision to shut down the bakery side. After my sister abruptly left the business, I couldn’t bring myself to shut the bakery down, so I taught myself how to decorate cakes and bake all of the case pastries. My daughter took over the decorated sugar cookies and together we moved on! We definitely went through a lot of trial and error!!!
As the business progressed, it became clear that I couldn’t handle both the bakery and florist, I needed to hire someone! It is very difficult finding someone that will have the work ethic needed in today’s society. When you provide the public with a delicious or well-crafted product the demand increases. Unfortunately, as the demand increases the productivity level has to increase as well. That my friends is where my problem began! I found myself in the same situation as before only this time I was paying people to do the bare minimum while I was still doing the most! Not that I had forgotten but I was told in one of my discussions with an employee that this was my business!
Moving forward, I continued to stress and work myself to the breaking point! Things became even more complex when my Mother became ill during the summer of 2022. I was now juggling my business, caring for my Mother and trying to have some sort of personal life with my husband! Whoa that’s a lot!!! After my Mother passed away in April of this year a lot of things became clearer. My eyes were opened to what was truly important in life. I was putting myself in a situation that was extremely stressful, and something had to give!
I shut the bakery down on Memorial Day and since then my stress level has definitely come down. I am still feeling overwhelmed at times even though this has been one of the slowest summers in my entire floral career! That, the birth of my grandson and the upcoming birth of my granddaughter has prompted me to take some much-needed time off! I haven’t set anything in stone, but I will more than likely finalize plans within the next week or so. My hope is that I can rejuvenate myself and get my heart back into what I love doing! Please stay cool and hydrated in this heat! Have a wonderful week, Brandi