Feel sorry for me. I have had a tough weekend!
Have you ever heard the saying, "Never go into business with friends or family"? Well, I guess that proverbs, adages, and old sayings become proverbs, adages and old sayings because there is some nugget of wisdom or truth contained in them.
My good friend and I both enjoy making hair sticks. So, we thought "Wouldn't it be great fun to start a small business together and sell our creations?" This weekend, I came to the conclusion that I was not having fun. (And to be quite honest, I don't think she was either!) Our relationship was morphing from a pleasant friendship full of banter and laughter to a business partnership in which we both drove the other half nuts! It was not her fault. It was not my fault.
I also realized that I was spending waaaaaay too much time thinking about the business, worrying about the business, trying to market the business, yada, yada, yada... I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a friend. I want to be a good wife. A good mother. A good friend.
It was not an easy decision to make. In fact, I walked around with a tornado in my gut for a day or two before finally doing what had to be done. It is hard to walk away from a project that you have spent countless hours and lots of hard work to develop. But it was the right thing to do. I know that it will take a LOT of stress off her back and mine.
So, on Saturday, I gracefully bowed out. I will keep the things I made, she will keep the things she made, the stuff we bought together we will split. She will keep the website since she was the one managing it anyway, and hopefully, I will still be able to place my creations in a local boutique that has been carrying our stuff.
We can go back to just being friends and having fun again.
Once the decision was made, I felt so relieved.
Then I began to think about all that I now have to do...
Essentially, I am back to square one. I have to decide exactly what it is I am going to do. I have to come up with a name. I have to get a web site. I have lost the customers and exposure that we worked hard to develop on the web. I have to develop a "look." I have to work on making more stuff...
Funny, for some strange reason, that tornado in my gut came right back!
On second thought, maybe you should feel sorry for my hubby and kids!
2 comments:
I'm sorry. That would be hard. I'm glad you were able to part as friends and will be able to *resume* being friends.
Take it slow on the "my business development" side of things ... let it be a fun hobby for a time, and reevaluate the good friend, good wife, good mother stuff.
Hm. I should do that, too. Reevaluate the good wife, mother, etc.
:)
kim
I totally agree with you, Kim. In fact, it has been my intention to put a little side-note on my post to point out that is what I plan to do!
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