The Hardest Part Of Being The Boss
Hello again! I know I am a week late and I am sorry for that. I am going to spend this post on what’s going on in my life right now because I think it is relevant to all of us and maybe it will give you some hope and at the same time let you know that no one has everything figured out.
So I have been even busier than normal these last few weeks because I had to make another tough decision with my business. If you have been following along you know that I am the king of bad decisions and have really screwed up a ton in my life. I am like a walking billboard for how NOT to live your life. At least that is how it has been for quite a while but recently things have been turning around and I am excited about it. The coolest part is that I have had very little to do with it and I believe God has done it all.
I am still recovering financially and emotionally from my failed attempt at having two locations. The financial recovery is obvious since I borrowed a bunch of money to start it and it went bust. The emotional part has a few sides. First of all, I feel like a failure and that isn’t any fun at all. I know that I have learned a ton and it is all for the better but it still hurts a lot to know that I failed so bad at something I really thought would work. The other side to that is that I let my staff down and in the process lost their friendship. That really hurts a lot. My main guy had been with me for 5 years and while we are still acquaintances and nice to each other on the phone, I know that he is upset and he has every right to be. I let him down and I feel terrible for it. He stuck with me and even moved to another city to support the vision and I botched it. I hope that we can repair the relationship we had over time because he really means a lot to me and I value his friendship a lot.
Fast forward through all the crap of shutting that shop down, losing a ton of money, losing friends and moving on and now I have this amazing mechanic working for me who knows so much more about the business than I do and he is helping me get the shop turned around and profitable again. I honestly believe that God delivered this man to me. I mean, he is from Uruguay for crying out loud. People from Uruguay don’t just move to Montrose Colorado every day. Especially ones who know how to run a motorcycle shop better than I have ever seen one run. He has been a major blessing for the shop and for me.
So as things began to iron out and we began to get busier, some other weaknesses began to show themselves and after a ton of thought, discussion and prayer I made the decision to let a different employee go. It was gut-wrenching because I become close to the guys I work with and this man is a great guy but he needed to give his gifts in a different field. It just wasn’t working out and I absolutely hated to fire him but it needed to happen for both of us.
After that rough day, the staff at Highland Cycles was down to 3 permanent (including me) guys and one part-time helper. Needless to say, it's been crazy! Even with less people and me back up front, we were up 50% over last month and probably 40% better than we have ever done in gross sales. I am so excited and fired up to move forward but it has been eating into my writing time, so I am sorry that these have been a little late and I haven’t been able to pick up the pace yet. But I will!
Thanks for reading along again. I hope you are all still enjoying my words, I really like writing them. I will get back to the GJ failure story for the next post. Until then, I hope you all have a great day and that you find at least 3 things to be thankful for today. I am thankful for fall coming (cooler weather), the sunrise today, and my amazing and beautiful wife!
