I have started a monthly blog to explain just some of the challenges a small business owner has to go through in the wonderful world of promotional merchandise.
A year in lockdown
What a year. The hardest in my life. Forget the business for a minute the mental strain on me as an owner over the past 18 months has been immense. It started with wondering “what was going to happen?”, then the realisation that I had months ahead of trying to earn a living when no one wanted to buy promotional products (who wants branded notebooks in a pandemic!), then working out how was going to keep my staff employed and give them the security they needed. This is on top of being a father of two young boys, who needed home schooling and attention 24/7, plus my wife who is a teacher and had to work throughout the pandemic, and a lot of this from home. The mental challenge of not going insane was very real.
I got to July 2020 and said I had to get away for a week, we managed to get away for a week to France, as I felt I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. My head was a carousel of ideas and thoughts that created a fog that meant even the simplest of tasks was hard, I was grumpy at everything and everyone. My shoulders were tight and made sleeping hard, which only added to the tension. I could feel my sanity ebbing away.
Going to France that week allowed me to stop. Relieve the pressure, it was like a valve had been released and I was able to sit and do nothing. The carousel stopped moving, the fog started to clear, the tension eased. I slept better. The problems didn’t go away but my mind was able to rest. It was the first time I realised that every other part of your body needs to rest, but we rarely give our minds the opportunity. If your legs are tired, we sit down; we do dry January to give our liver a rest from the excess of Christmas; but we do little to help our mind switch off.
By allowing my mind to process the events and the shock of what had happened, I came back with a clearer mindset – survival, I just needed my business to survive, nothing more. Don’t kill yourself, but just make sure you have a business at the end of this process (however long this process was going to be!). Stop trying to be an A+ teacher and run a business at the same time, it is not going to happen. Focus on the things that were important. During the day, my wife and I drew up a timetable of teaching and work. It meant some days working only 2 hours, we tried to get out for walks more as a family as this was something that helped all our mental health, we prioritised our happiness as a family over work and profit.
The upshot was things got easier. Work flowed better, life was easier and actually started to make some money, but more importantly I was happier. The stress had changed, rather than a fight to just keep my head above water there was one of acceptance of the situation and now it was the new “norm”.
This first blog started off with my thoughts on the last 18 months, but even in the process of writing it, it quickly dawned on me that this was about mental health. To say mental health is important is an understatement. The pandemic has shone a light on the subject, working from home has been great in moderation and is not for everyone. Realise that your brain dictates how productive you are and how clear you think. Give it time to process and give it time to do nothing. Be kind to each but most importantly be kind to yourself.
Ben is the owner of Manic Merchandise which has been in business since 2016. He has been in the promotional merchandise industry for over 20 years.
