Owning a Business During Tough Times

During the decades I have spent as a business owner, I have worked in dangerous environments that could have cost me my life and have also seen death up close. I also recently juggled running a business while dealing with a life-threatening illness, but by God’s grace and mercy, I’m still here and standing tall.

When I was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer during the pandemic, I felt time stop or at least slow way down. Have you ever seen the matrix movie where time would slow down, and the star of the movie would move out the way of a bullet? That’s what happened to me, but my life moved in that kind of slow motion for longer than a few minutes. My life moved slowly for about a year.

I tried hard not to think about going through the major surgeries that would end up saving my life. I sat at a window in a family member’s home in New York and watched first fall, then winter and spring and finally summer flow by during my cancer treatment. While going through the surgeries and treatments, I prepared my will and signed all the documents that would secure my family’s future. It was the most difficult time of my life.

While fighting the cancer, I had to continue running my business. Running a business while going through such a horrible time in my life wasn’t easy but it did help keep me going. No matter what else was happening, I still had the daily day to day business task to manage and keeping things going helped me stay strong.

Aaron Marshal wrote an article for Forbes about his experience fighting cancer during the Pandemic while continuing to fight to keep his business going. He talks about how going into battle mode on both fronts helped him.

After going through a very aggressive treatment plan, I was blessed to be cancer free. You never know just how strong you are until you face your biggest challenges. Every negative experience you endure teaches you lessons.

In business you learn from mistakes and try hard never to repeat them. When life poses other challenges, like life-threatening illness, you learn the lessons the experience delivers.

Take the negative that you go through in business and life and find the positive and I promise you that you will be successful in whatever life choices that you make.

Remember, today’s decisions affect your tomorrows!