Don't Let The Turkeys Get You Down

Back in the day, my grandfather had a coffee mug with a cartoon turkey on it that read: “Don’t let the turkeys get you down.”

I’ve been repeating that to myself a lot lately.

When you start a business, you meet two kinds of people. First, the cheerleaders; they are the ones who generously give you their time, advice, and referrals. They see the human behind the business. They root for you.

And then there are the others. The ones for whom you are simply a number. Your EIN. Your account ID. Your bank balance. Most likely, the revenue you represent. And as a small business, let’s be honest, those numbers are smaller than their top-tier clients.

I ran into one of those this week.

The interaction was minor. Silly, even. But I stewed. Then I stewed some more. Then I built an entire fictional drama in my head where this person disliked me, was trying to trick me, and viewed me as an annoying small operator while he handled “bigger fish.”

(It’s impressive how much plot development can happen in a short period of time.)

On a long drive to Herkimer County (thank you LaBella and Herkimer County IDA for the fun field trip!), I turned on my imaginary carpool companion, Mel Robbins, author of Let Them which is worth a Google if you’re not familiar. And somewhere between mile markers, it hit me:

Everyone is just trying to make another dollar and get through the day relatively unscathed.

The big corporate rep? He’s trying to hit quota, move up a commission tier, generate revenue for his company, and for himself.

And me? I’m trying to grow revenue, manage expenses, and eke out a profit that keeps the lights on and the team paid, and again, because we’re being honest, a little for me too.

Different scale. Same game.

That doesn’t mean we accept poor behavior. But it does mean we can choose not to turn it into a personal referendum on our worth.

So forgive the big guy.
Control what you can control.
And whatever you do, don’t let the turkeys get you down.