I am a parent to two young girls, though these lovely little humans are not the only thing I’ve created, grown, and nurtured. I am also a small business owner, and my practice, Ardern Psychology, is 3 1/2 years old. While I have worked for small businesses in the past, nothing compares to the feeling of creating and building your own business, molding it from the ground up, with no real certainty as to what it’ll look like or how successful it’ll be. Much like parenting children, growing a business involves emotional and financial risk, leaps of faith, luck, and a heap of perceived failure when something goes wrong.
Since early on, one group of people heavily impacted by the pandemic has been small business owners. Running your own business is a risky venture in even the best of times, and one that requires self-confidence, a strong support system, and a decent amount of risk tolerance. It also requires customers/clients/consumers to feel safe and able to seek out your product/service – something that COVID has certainly disrupted for so many businesses. It is hard to have your business impacted by something that you cannot control. This causes a lot of emotions to come to the surface. It helps to name, honor, and acknowledge these feelings during this time.
Many small businesses have had to close their doors because of quarantine and the costs of continuing to pay business expenses such as rent and utilities on a space that no one was allowed into. If you are one of the business owners who has faced this tremendously hard decision, please know that you are not alone. The pain of having to make this decision is a deep one that causes many anxiety, stress, depression, and a sense of failure.
It is vital to feel and process the stages of grief but I also encourage you to celebrate the fact that you were able to do something that many people only dream about. It takes an immense amount of courage to start a business from scratch and the dedication that comes with being a business owner IS very similar to raising a child. Please congratulate yourself on the successes you did make while you are grieving this loss. You are incredible brave to have taken this journey.
If you are a small business owner, whether negatively impacted by COVID or not, kudos to you. You persevere, you strive, you create, you build, you beautify, and you are working so very hard to leave a legacy and have an impact. Thank you for sharing your business baby with us!