Being a small business owner isn’t for the faint of heart. You may not have many (or any) managerial layers between you and your workforce, resulting in a heavy workload, broad responsibilities, and an overwhelming number of direct reports. Delegating is learned; add it to the list.
Ownership is risky. Every entrepreneur is a mix: optimism, unearned self-confidence, plus a generous risk tolerance. To you, everything is doable if you’re willing to do it — and you are!
The real problem with owning the company it that it’s always just … there. Everyone else gets to go home, take vacations or even quit. Even the most dedicated employees can compartmentalize and separate their work from their life. It’s just a job. If this combusts, they’ll get another. But you can’t. Emergency exits are for other people. You get to live with emergencies and figure your way out. Survival is imperative.
When I became majority owner of my family’s business in 2006-2007, I was thrilled. Until the recession came. And stayed. I learned a lot, like how to not get paid consistently, how to have chronic insomnia, use personal credit cards to cover company expenses, and to expertly gauge when checks would be cashed and how much float I had, so I could pay the guy yelling at me, while, in turn, yelling at someone else.
The recession lasted two years, but the recovery took us a decade. Profits that took months to accrue were wiped out with a bad job or bad customer and we’d be back at the beginning. I learned the hard way what it really is to own a business. Ownership is often defined more by its liabilities and limitations than it’s assets and possibility.
When I came to Redmond Waltz to be the President and later, CEO, it felt like freedom. I could do all the things I know how to do: be a leader, create and build. What was the worst that could happen? I’d get fired and not lose everything? I would never endeavor to own a business again. Being a hired gun was it; ownership is overrated.
Fast forward eleven years, I acquired Redmond Waltz Electric! Having a business is so much like having a baby. After my son was born, I questioned how there were any second children by choice. Who would ever do this again once they knew what the experience was? (I’m a mother of three). You forget. The pain recedes and the love grows. Anything bad is an anecdote, and anything good is a cherished memory. It’s the same in business. The bad times have become my education, the fear and anxiety, my enlightenment. For 11 years at Redmond, I didn’t own the building or the profits, but I owned the work, the effort, and the identity. I owned the relationships and the organization’s evolution. Being so embedded in what I created without being permanently tethered to it began to feel less like a benefit and more like a liability. So, here I am, all in, an owner and CEO, again, eyes open and my heart fully intact.
Jennifer Ake-Marriott is President & CEO of Redmond Waltz – an industrial repair company in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood.
