A day in the life of a radical pharmacy owner

So did your birthday wish come true? Some times it is easier to leave high matainance friendships behind. Having a small business is enough stress, as you said. One thing common with small business owners is the tendenancy to forget about oneself. Whether you are putting your work first, your family, your child, your partner, or your friends first, there is always some one, or some thing, else more important than you. This is what will make your business prosper, but will also make you have a break down. What good is all the effort you put in if you can not reap some benifits? Stop punishing your self. Did you hear that.... I'll say it again, stop trying to punish your self, and stop trying to prove your self. You have more strength than you know. So now about your birthday....... be a little selfish, you make the week your week, weather any one else likes it or not. Don't rely on a friend to do it for you. Yes, it is nice to have soem one else make a big deal over you and treat you special, but you can treat your self special, and have more fun at the same time. Then you also know that there is no alterior motive, no favor you need to repay, just you haveing fun enjoying life and celebrating the fact that you made it another year!!! Just surviving all the shit that comes your way in a year's time is an accomplishment! You bring your own happiness, let your birthday be your excuse to please your self for a few days. Others can either like it or lump it! You don't have to be self giving all the time, some times it feels good to be selfish. Say it out loud .... ME ..... MINE !!! :-) OK, one last thing, part of being a small business owner is learning how to hire and fire. Letting people go is the hardest thing in the world to do, but must be done sometimes. If you ask me, it is harder than giving birth, but it makes no sense for you to have two assistants while you still don't bring in enough business or money to pay your self a wage. Tell D that she will have a posistion when business picks up more, and she knew it was a temporary posistion when S left to have her baby. Then later on, most likely six months to a year or so, you will have enough business, or maybe S will want to work fewer hours, and you can bring her back at least part time. It is NOT your job to take care of D and supply D a living wage. It IS your job to run your business in such a way that it is profitable and prosperous; and then you can preform you other job, which is to take care of and provide for K. All the while you must keep in mind your highest priorty job, to take care of your self. If you can not do that, then the other two jobs, business and motherhood, will suffer. I have to remind my self this all the time.... it is not easy. It is so much easier to loose yourself trying to fix everything, do everything, and be every thing. I would like to see you look into a pharmacist association. You can hire a temp pharmacist to asssit in the store a few days per month. This will do you more good then another clerk or cashier. Some small pharmacys pair up to help each other, say you work a Sunday for them, they work a Saturday for you; or they have two pharmacist, one is willing to work in your store a few days per month, and you can be on emergency call if needed for them, etc. Then you can actually have a day off (Sunday's don't count because that is the day you catch up on house chores any way, it is not a day off), or better yet, maybe a weekend get away. If you don't keep your self sane every thing you have worked hard for will crumble. Now to close, I have a birthday wish for you..... By your next birthday, I wish for you to have figured out how to be a little selfish, have a back up pharmacist, and take your birthday week, or a long weekend, and get away to the beach or mountains. Can you handle this challenge I am sending you? This gives you almost a year to plan, and this should be easy, you have done much harder, in less time. -- Cheers :-)
 

No, my wish did not come true. It probably is too high maintainance of a friendship even now. I will make a pledge to be more selfish for my birthday next year. As for D, I have cut her hours back and am encouraging her to look for another job. We'll see.