Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Glass is Half....


I have a confession to make.

I have a tendency to be a glass-is-half-empty kind of gal. It’s true. I can imagine the worst in any situation. I’ve tried to change it, but I think it may be in my programming. Nonetheless, I’m trying hard to model a more optimistic approach to my children (particularly my pessimistic kid). I’m going to try and believe that I’m fooling them with my sunny ways.

This would all be well and good, except that I’m also an entrepreneur. Now that’s a bad combination! Self-employment can be….how shall I put this delicately… a slog. At least that’s how one mompreneur described it when I caught her on a bad day a while back. As in, “I just never imagined it would be such a slog.” For all of the incredible rewards of going it alone, we all have days when things don’t go as planned. We all try things that fail, or experience the typical frustrations of any job. So add to the sometimes sloggishness of it all a measure of pessimism and things can be tough! If we have a slow day I worry about our business – or heaven forbid a slow week or two – I’ll be utterly convinced that we’re washed up. Amy and I even have a joke about it – when things look bleak we just shake our heads and say, ‘Washed up!’ – then we laugh. (If you know our business you’ll know that we are certainly not washed up! Heck – there’s an endless supply of new customers – there’s one born every minute!)

I however, have a secret weapon. I jumped into mompreneurial waters with an optimist! How smart was that? When I think we’re done for, Amy sees it differently. She frames situations differently and helps me to see the temporary nature of whatever predicament I’m fretting about. And of course she’s right. Things are never that bad, and we’ve survived every challenge we’ve faced. Truth be told – I’d have never made it 8 years (and counting) without her filling up my empty glass.

There are lots of things you should look for in a business partner. Ideally you’ll find someone who complements your skill set and personality traits. But if you’re thinking about making the leap into entrepreneurship and tend toward the pessimistic, make sure you grab an optimist to jump with you.

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