This week I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on what it means to run a business in today’s digital world.
I’m on the cusp of 52 now and people my age didn’t grow up in the environment that now surrounds us. Our nervous systems were shaped in a different era. A slower one with fewer demands on our attention.
When I started my business in the late 90s the formula was fairly simple. You might place an advert in a magazine, attend a trade show, visit retailers with a case of jewellery, hand out business cards. It was definitely more about face to face and what I would call real communication.
That was marketing back then.
Now the landscape is completely different. Instagram. Facebook. TikTok. YouTube. Email marketing. E-commerce platforms. Messaging apps. Analytics dashboards. Algorithms….
Each one yes is useful and perhaps incredible in its own way and each one may even be necessary. But every single one also asks for a slice of your attention.
And some would say that attention, as it turns out, is the most valuable resource anyone has.
Over the past few years, through therapy and my own introspection, I’ve become much more aware of how my own system responds to pressure and overwhelm. When you run a small business, there isn’t a big team absorbing that pressure. It mostly lands on you.
The modern expectation, whether spoken or unspoken, is that you’re always available. Emails arrive instantly. Messages appear on your phone. Notifications buzz constantly. You don’t have to respond to all of it but the pull is there and for the most part an expectation for a quick response.
So for me the challenge has become learning where the boundaries sit. I don’t claim to have mastered this. Not even close. I can have periods where things feel balanced, and then suddenly a launch or a busy period pulls me straight back into the digital whirlpool. But I do think understanding your own limits is essential.
If you’re running a business today, especially as a one-person or small operation, your nervous system is effectively part of the business infrastructure. Ignore it and sooner or later things start to break down. So to help oneself navigate the challenges the following has been invaluable to me and I intend to do more of it:-
Turn the phone and close the laptop when my body and mind needs a break.
Get outside and into nature.
Exercise.
Breathe.
Jump into cold water and meet up with friends and don’t even mention the J word!
All the small habits that attempt to bring the system back into balance.
I’m curious how others experience this. Especially those running businesses who didn’t grow up inside this permanently connected (or is it disconnected!) world.
How do you manage it?