Time out
As small business owners, we end up working many more hours than those who work for us. Our employees work eight-hour shifts. Then they go home and take the kids…
As small business owners, we end up working many more hours than those who work for us.
Our employees work eight-hour shifts. Then they go home and take the kids to Little League or mow the lawn or clean out the garage of barbecue some chicken. We tend to stay at work or if we do go home, we end up sitting at the computer working up bids or juggling funds around to get the most pressing bills paid.
After a long time of this, working 12 or more hours a day, not taking time off, even on weekends and forgoing vacations, we can get seriously stressed. This stress can manifest itself in many ways, none of them very good.
We can become short tempered, not only with our employees but with our family members and everyone else as well. We become much less tolerant of things like having to wait for a slow pedestrian to cross the road or a checker to finish their conversation with the customer they are bagging groceries for.
Maintaining balance is important. If we get stressed out to the point where we are being short tempered with our employees, we are going to create an even more difficult situation than the one that stressed us out in the first place. Sometimes we just need to stop and look around a bit.
D.D.
David DeCristoforo possesses an extensive resume as designer/maker of fine furniture, high-end cabinetry and architectural woodwork. His experience in professional woodworking spans a period of 35 years. For the past 20 years David DeCristoforo Design has been located in Woodland, California. During this time David's shop has ranged in scope from a "full on" cabinet production shop with as many as 15 employees to a small fine furniture and custom millwork shop, working with his son, David RBJ, a highly skilled maker in his own right.
