Then please skip this article. Close the window. Move on.
In Getting Real with BOSSY, we often speak about the importance of sleep on the brain. We all know that the research is out there- that poor sleep leads to poor health and poor brain function. We crave crappier foods, caffeine, and have less patience, and are less cognitively attuned to the day.
When thinking about sleep, consider the commercial: “This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs.” For those not an 80s kid, the “brain” is a whole egg still in its shell, and the “on drugs” is the egg being cracked into a frying pan.
Well, here is the brain whole with consistently uninterrupted 7-8 hours of sleep, and here is the brain cracked and scrambled as a small business owner… GO TO BED.
Okay. [lays down]
Money. Sales are down- consumer spending is decreasing. Interest rates are so high that I don’t think I can even pay back anything I borrow to get me to the next season and hope things go back to normal. Maybe my sales are down because I suck. My product sucks. My staff sucks. Maybe my customer has changed completely. Where are they and how do I get them back?
Flow into advertising, collaborations, stalking other businesses on social and then going into a doom scroll. Put down the phone. Stop being stupid. You have been at this for a long time. Think of what you know and how you can implement it. What has worked in the past? Who do you need to coach to be better at their job? Who needs to be let go? What can you do tomorrow, next week, next month to move forward?
Will there be enough money to get there? What if people stop buying my product completely? My mortgage is due. The dog needs surgery. The kid wants dance lessons, and small business owners are only half there a lot of the time, so sign them up out of guilt.
Should we pay for ads on Google and social media? Do people listen to the radio? How much is a billboard these days? What about those guys that flip signs on the street? They keep doing it so maybe it works.
[insert doing the math on designing and printing a sign and paying someone hourly rates to
stand there energetically flipping a sign and thinking about how fast they will quit and the
turnover and the broken signs because those things are flimsy and how in the world is there an ROI??]
It's been a bit since we checked our email. Pick up the phone, check the email and socials to see if there are reviews or messages, and doomscroll. Ugh. Put the phone down. You know the effects of blue light on your sleep. Remember that you never painted those touch-ups and everyone will see the scuffs and think you are gross.
Speaking of aesthetics, maybe you should redesign the menu. Should you remove the items that only a few people love and streamline until it gets busier? You know people will complain and then they will never return. So why bother? But you are wasting product and the prices are going up again… Can you substitute it with something else? We NEED to raise prices but know that everyone is struggling the same as we are. We don’t want to
___________ our customers- what if they get mad and don’t come back?
Pick up the phone and research random menu design tactics, and consumer trends, start
looking at your app for sales trends for your business, and start thinking about changing up the schedule. Maybe you should just work all of the shifts? But other things have to get done… maybe you are married or in a relationship. When was the last time you had alone time?? Maybe you have aging parents or other family members you are not seeing nearly often enough. Can you take your mom to lunch? She just wants to see you. And those kids- if you have them- they are being neglected. So add that to the list of things. When was the last time you cleaned the toilet or vacuumed? That friend that you keep trying to make a date with.
Politics.
For those who do not own a business, we understand you may also struggle and see some
similarities, but the biggest difference is that we can’t take time off. We can’t quit. And if we do, it is often a very long and drawn-out process. We are women who are partners, parents, children, siblings, friends, family members, AND bosses.
A good chunk of us are in perimenopause to boot. Hot flashes, mood swings, overall
hatefulness at times- maybe we should apologize to those that we spoke to yesterday. Guilt, anyone?
We are tired.
How do you navigate sleep during all of this? Tell us at bossyroc@gmail.com or share with us on social @bossyrochester.
Good night, and sleep tight. We are here for you,
Kelly & Kelly
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