My baby just cares for me

I missed the elementary school talent show auditions.

I know, this doesn’t sound like a big deal. But in the nearly nine years I’ve had this business, I’ve always put my kiddo first. I designed my work around my family’s needs. 

It’s easy to get sucked back into the hustle playbook, to loosen boundaries. I’m fighting against the assumption that I was only running the business this way because I had a young child. I’m regularly asked, now that he’s older, can I work nights and weekends? Can I put in more hours? Come to more things in person? Surely I’ll scale up? 

He’s not going to care that you miss one audition. 

I care. The work to get to this moment, of this kid being willing to stand on stage and act goofy, started when he was two. Last year, we dropped out of auditions because it was still too much. We practiced songs and developed ideas for a year. 

I’m angry with myself that I let work overwhelm me to the point I couldn’t make an hour to get to school on a Wednesday afternoon. This isn’t Mom Guilt; it’s a fail point in my business design.

I care deeply about my clients. I pour myself into helping them create companies that they love to run, which are socially impactful, profitable, and great places to work. 

I take on critical work – sometimes across three or four domains of operating expertise – that founders say robs them of time and joy. 

But my most important work is taking care of my whole self and being Jake’s mom. I can’t do deeply felt work for others if I abandon doing it for myself. 

I was feeling this last summer, when I visited a dear friend who is also a longtime entrepreneur. I was feeling down. The place I found myself felt like failure. 

My friend shared that, after a steady 15-year run, his business had gone through huge changes in the span of 12 months. A co-owner exited, a good portion of the team turned over, and some clients left. He said something powerful:

You get to start over.

It took some time to see this in a positive light; I’m now embracing the chance to start over, to take a moment to make sure things are still in alignment after nine years and lots of changes. 

The messy middle isn’t a single moment in your business. The first one happens in your first 18-36 months, when you’re no longer the fresh new thing and have to do the work of creating something sustainable. The work you do at that point may carry you for two to five years, but you’ll eventually land in the messy middle of the subsequent phase. 

This messy middle requires more revision. I’m ripping out technology and systems that aren’t performing or haven’t kept up with product enhancements. I’m changing some professional partners and team members. I’m clarifying language about what we do and who we do it for. I’m reconsidering how we design and deliver client work. I’m revisiting my love / hate list and defining what I want my job to be.

This week is the exact midpoint in my stewardship of Jake’s childhood. He’s 8-½ and starting the back half of third grade. I’m setting up to get this right for the next nine years.

It takes constant vigilance to run your small business in an unconventional way. There’s no space for even a little compromise on what matters to you. If something feels off, don’t wait. Address it this week. If you’d like an empathetic ear, grab 20 minutes with me. 

Media Kit 

AMA replay. If you weren’t able to join us last Thursday, check out the Ask Me Anything replay. We talked about the big fat lies of Intuit small business commercials, HR systems automation, local registrations, 2023 retirement savings, and tax readiness. Use the time stamps in the captions to jump to specific questions. My next AMA is on March 14 at 10 AM PT.

Location, location, location. Do you have a retail location? Are you considering one? I loved this conversion on the Odd Lots podcast (Spotify) with a real estate broker and analyst who evaluate new locations for national chains. Steal all the ideas about counting cars, checking birth rates, and avoiding left turns. 

Leap into free AI training. On February 29, Masters of Scale is hosting a free, virtual “Masters of AI Day” for you and your team to try out new tools and get ideas for how to incorporate AI into your day-to-day operations. Learn more and register here.

Renew your City of Los Angeles business license. City of Los Angeles business owners, new freelancers, 1099 recipients for that one day you did a thing, it’s time to renew your business license and pay your gross receipts tax. Registrations and renewals are due by February 29. Start here.