The Long Goodbye: On Aging and Business

While this isn't "Goodbye, peace out everyone!!", it has at times felt like that. This summer I have been grieving several loooong goodbyes- to childhood, a dear family member, and a business I was once obsessed with.

Childhood

Once my eldest turned ten (she is now eleven), I saw the decade past and the decade ahead. Have you had moments like this? Have you thought maybe I should travel, sing and nurture more, while I can?

Great Grandma Stumvoll

Much of the summer and now fall has been consumed with considering every possible path for what is next for our family. My husband's and my own family are all aging (as we ALL are), nearing or far past their seventh decade is where the generation ahead of us is at. What will our life look like in those years? Great Grandma is in her mid-nineties. Have I ever mentioned we all live on my husband's family land, the compound concept of communal family living?

On Business

I have been meeting with the same Small Business Development Center consultant for about ten years. There have been highs (buying land and dreaming up a stand alone coffee/ chocolate concept in Baxter) and lows (letting staff go, observing my security cameras and losing trust in those once close to me), and my consultant has heard and coached through it all. Some of my biggest take aways have been: Don't be an asshole (something I repeat to myself often, you may not have suspected), and have an exit plan. In this season I am exiting the hustle and demands of some parts of my business and preparing to shift Wildflower Chocolate into something that could possibly be sold as a seasonal business.

Back to the SBDC consultant, at one of our first coffee meetings he mentioned real estate as a solid exit plan, and always searching for the highest ROI (great margin, high selling items over side projects). This year for the European Christmas Market we are focusing on production of chocolate bars, of many varieties, and cutting out the many (many!) "side" products I have developed through the years. Part of this shift also means listing my Baxter commercial land for sale. Imagine, if I had built equity over the eight years spent instead on remodeling the kitchen on Hazelwood Drive, if I had chose not to care for someone else's building? Things at the family compound are shifting and it is time to reallocate. 

While this still isn't goodbye, I wanted to address aging and business. I have been absent on social media and present in real life - strategizing my next steps and working hard to not be an asshole. ;-)