Is everything always going to be this hard?
This year has been a lot.
A lot of waiting.
A lot of uncertainty.
A lot of change.
A lot of unease.
A lot of unrest.
A lot of questions that seem to go unanswered.
A lot of worrying about the future.
A lot of looking at ourselves, our communities and our whole planet in the mirror and wondering if we like what we see.
A lot of "sliding doors" moments.
A lot of what-ifs.
But in all of that uncertainty, in all of that waiting, there have been an abundance of lessons —things we can only ever learn in the middle ground between where we are and where we want to be. Perhaps one of the greatest of these — especially for small business owners — is patience and the ability to be OK with uncertainty.
Patience can be a hard thing to master when you're trying to grow (or even start) your small business. When will I get X clients on my books? When will I find the right physical location for my store? When will I hear back from this or that collaborator? When will we make it internationally? When will I be able to hire someone to take some of the load off? When will I feel like I don't have to always be checking my staff's work? When will I feel confident about marketing? When will I feel confident about hiring? When will I be the type of business owner I want to be? When will it feel seamless? When will I have it all figured out?
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In the words of the ancient Persian poet, Saadi, “Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy”. And for some of the questions above, there may never be a concrete end date.
This past fortnight, as restrictions eased in Melbourne where I'm based, my husband took our eldest son to buy his first pair of basketball boots. It was the end of a long journey for him learning to tie his own shoe laces. It's been interesting to watch that journey as he knew — as did we — that at some stage he would get it. Likewise, earlier this year when our youngest son was learning to walk we watched him for months, get up, topple over, get up again, topple over again. Some days he gave up and sat happily on the floor and others he tried over and over and over and over again. In both instances it took patience, and determination, to keep going.
This year has thrown up so many unknowns, so many challenges and so many obstacles for small business owners. And in an era where we are used to getting everything we want within seconds, it has been hard at times to stop, to be forced to wait, to be patient. Yet in that waiting we have been given the thinking time to amend things that were not working, to "pivot", to update our processes, to connect on a deeper level to our customers, clients and colleagues, to really consider what it is we want from business (and life) and to have the clarity in direction that will serve us well for 2021 and beyond.
I have heard from so many small biz owners via emails and DMs, that they feel they haven't done "enough" this year, that they haven't worked on X or Y or that they should have done "more". My suggestion to them, as to you, is to look at what you have learned this year, in particular to appreciate how well you have dealt with uncertainty and how much greater your patience muscle is. 2020 has been a year of "unprecedented" events, experiences and education. But the ability to be patient and to sit with uncertainty are traits small business owners need every single year, regardless of anything else happening around them. Patience reduces frustration and impulsive behaviour, it forces us to really think through things, alleviating irrational decisions, and helps us cultivate an ability to persist. Getting better at these things is never bad for business.