Hanging by a Thread: A Summertime Tale
A tale of four parents is playing out at WindsorTurner right now.
In one camp are the parents who are hanging by a thread. Literally, a thread crafted during arts-and-crafts time at summer camp. And this is happening between running back and forth to the same child’s summer camp theatrical performance at 10:00 a.m. Because doesn’t every parent want to drop a child off at 8:30, arrive at work around 9:00, and turn around at 9:30 to get back for a 10:00 performance? Said performance ends at 11:00, and lo and behold, an ice cream sundae bar is planned. Surprise, parents! So, parents head back to work at 11:30, perhaps grabbing a Zoom call from the car, and land back in the office at noon, which is just in time for their coworkers to head out to lunch.
At the same time, the other parents are not at a camp, though their kids may be employed at said camp. But that does not mean they aren’t hanging by a thread, too. Their threads are more like the strings still attached to their grown-ish children. And how are those strings pulled? Well, as mentioned previously in this blog, the older set gets going at about 11:00 a.m. And then come the calls. Calls, calls, and so many calls from high school, college, and post-college kids whose own theatrics are playing out in real life.
Some examples? The need for help with waivers. Waivers for insurance. Waivers for classes. Waivers for dorm mini-fridges. The need for assistance creating a logistics and travel plan for the transition from college life to home life, with a few family reunions thrown into the middle (no, you do not get any upgraded airline seats until you have a job and can pay for them yourself). Emphasis on have a job. And then there is the career advice that comes with being early in a career. Yes, definitely share news articles on LinkedIn. No, definitely do not promote a bottom-shelf tequila tasting contest with your office mates. And if you do, definitely do not post it on LinkedIn. Also, don’t forget to pay your rent and eat a salad.
All of the above is playing out in real time among our small and mighty team while we try to evaluate project feasibility, prepare meaningful economic impact analyses, and work with our clients on rethinking their office footprints. Looking back over the past few months, I’ve asked myself, how are we getting through this? As a small business, we created our core values early on, and we look to them as a guide, particularly in those hanging-by-a-thread moments.
They are:
We do good work.
As a small business, we seek opportunities that are right sized for us or find aligned partners who can help deliver the necessary services.
As a small, woman-owned business, we support other small and woman-owned businesses whenever we can.
We look for ways to give to our clients in meaningful ways.
We work hard for our clients. The time we bill will be fair, practical, and meaningful. The work products we produce will be professional, explainable, and accurate.
When we cannot provide a quality service or work product, we provide referrals to those who can.
We value each other’s personal time, respect one another’s limits, and celebrate achievements.
We operate in an admirable and upstanding way, one in which we can open our doors at any time and be proud of what lies behind them.
When the going gets tough, as it has while we count the days until the end of summer, we remember our commitment to do good work. Sometimes that means taking a Zoom call from the car. It might mean not attending a theatrical performance at summer camp (the very summer camp in which we enrolled our child for the purpose of childcare). It might mean insisting that a grown-ish child schedules their own dental appointment.
It also means being truthful about our workload, so we stay right sized for the projects that present themselves and are realistic about the timelines we promise. And, through all of it, we do good work. Sometimes that means work on a vacation day. Sometimes it means work done well after typical business hours. And it has always meant work that is checked, questioned, and fact-checked by actual humans, not simply handed over to AI. The list could go on, but the point for the small-business owner is this:
Make your core commitments early and stick to them often.
Put them somewhere you can see them. Return to them when things get hectic. Follow them when the schedule falls apart, the summer camp announces a surprise ice cream sundae bar, or a college bound child calls with yet another waiver that apparently requires immediate parental intervention.
Your core commitments won’t eliminate the chaos. But they will remind you how you want to operate within it. And if you stay true to them, they won’t let you down, and, in turn, they won’t let you let your clients down.