Northwest Gold Coast

By Elizabeth Paulsen in the style of Chuck Gallozzi

We are thankful for:

• Long hours because even though they’re long, we set them and we are not likely to lay ourselves off.
• Work stress because it gives us an excuse to reach for the dark chocolate or go work out.
• Payroll taxes, vacation pay and medical premiums because it means we have employees to help do the work.
• Tech savvy employees because they prompt us to update our hardware, software and selfware (personal skills and knowledge).
• The customer who owes us money because it means the project is complete.
• The customer who tells stories or makes puns, because he makes us laugh.
• The customer who complains because it means she cares enough about our work to tell us how we can improve.
• The customer who includes a smiley face on his check and emoticons in his emails because it reminds us we are more than business owners.
• Commercial loans because they make us less attractive to hostile buyouts.
• Auditors because they give us critical information and feedback.
• Business advisors, mentors and strategic business partners because they sharpen us.
• Business networking groups because they help us refine our elevator speeches.
• Non-profit organizations because they challenge us to be philanthropic.
• Our families who say that they like life better as small business owners than when we worked for large corporations.

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