Nomad Manager

Progress Report #2 on Nomad Manager - Part 3 of 3

Burnout & Rekindling

[I’m excited about the Kindle I’m to own in about a week’s time, but this is not about the Kindle, and there was no pun intended.]

Earlier this year, in January 2011, I experienced the worst burnout/meltdown as a business owner. My partner Gail had migrated to Canada in May 2010, and while she did what she could from there, I managed the business alone locally since then.

When you manage your own business (and you don’t have a physical store of your own), people don’t seem to realize the extent of the work you still have to put in. I had to oversee production, quality control, coordinate with consignees on deliveries, sales reports and collections, prepare accounting documents and shipments, split the work of creating marketing collateral with Gail, man bazaar booths without any permanent/truly knowledgeable fellow booth manners (i.e. teammates like Gail who I could count on to answer product/brand-related inquiries confidently). I had to beg true friends/coerce househelp to help me man booths. I only ever left the booth to pee. Sometimes I didn’t leave at all. I felt I had no weekends. Or when I did, I felt guilty about them because I knew there was still pending work to be done. I could go on. But I won’t. In a nutshell, I basically died last December.

The burnout.
The backlash.
And then the bingo.

I feel things turned around for me when Nica came into the picture. This was not immediate, but a lot of things changed for me since she joined us. While we have yet to improve sales, having her around, showing her the ropes, and being able to trust that she knows those ropes helped lift a heavy weight off my shoulders, giving me more anxiety-free days to focus on more long-term planning for PdP.

Jonver & Joseph are pretty much part of that team now. And while I’ve yet to really officially work with them, if they work like Nica, then I’m lucky enough to have a strong team to work with (making me less anxious). At the same time, it makes me feel like the business has an even higher purpose than myself or the PdP-losophy/cause. This time, 3 other people will be dependent on me for sustenance. Both financial and otherwise. And while it’s a daunting responsibility, I also find it quite exciting.

‘Til my next progress report.

Lovingly yours,
Helen Jen

Read Part 1 here.
And Part 2 here.