Wednesday Wisdom: How’s Your Patience Level?

Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Business

If there was one thing yoga taught me years ago, it was to hold in place long enough to focus patiently on a perfect stance in an awkward position. Over time, I learned to slow down my Italian and runner’s energy to just be and stop. Composure was formulated during these practices. I took that calm with me to supermarket lines, race start lines, and stop lights. “Breathe, slow down, be patient,” I’d say to myself.

I had a feeling a year ago that when everyone emerged from their safe reclusive homes and work havens at the end of the pandemic, people wouldn’t know how to respond to an abundance of other people’s actions, traffic jams, or long grocery lines even though we craved them during solitude. As proof my husband, a Corporate Operations Director for a building materials company, comes home every night from work frustrated on how long the wait times are for building materials and products for their company’s clients even though it isn’t their fault; it’s backlogs, shutdowns, and lack of employees in their wholesale partners companies.

Next week when we host our first LIVE event at Union Place Coffee Roasters, a business that expanded, not shrank, during the pandemic, owner Laurie DiProspero will share wisdom on handling a slowdown in the supply chain, pricing increases, and staff shortages to keep your business successful. We’ll enjoy fresh roasted coffee and network for the first time with other women in business checking in to see how they survived, thrived, and are reigniting their businesses.

When I interviewed Sue Beebe, a former 20-year business owner and long-time member, about how she “ramped down” her company to retire in 2019, she gave insight that most of us might understand after trying to run our companies during the pandemic. We each had to face our situation, plan for an exit or re-emergence strategy, set new goals with timelines, and put it in action. Sue’s retirement plan wasn’t so different from where we all stand right now re-examining our lives and companies.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to encourage you to listen to Sue’s interview and sign up for our event at Laurie’s new expanded location for inspiration, and then wipe away any cobwebs hanging in your company that have been there for a year and set course. It’s okay if you decide to ramp back up or ramp down based on your future plans. We aren’t meant to be business owners forever, there are other parts of our lives to enjoy which you might have realized in 2020. It is okay to switch directions, begin anew, or go-for-it with new found gusto.

You might also need to stay still in a yoga stance, breathing in and out, to take that first step or to gear up energy. It’s all good. It’s all up to you.