Ups and Downs, Ins and Outs

I have some friends who own a bakery. Actually, I have three different friends who own three different bakeries, with three different sets of circumstances. I have one friend whose bakery just moved into a new location, a better location, and her business is thriving. I have another friend, who opened a bakery with his wife, and after some slow months, is grappling with the decision to close up shop. I have yet another friend, a very young friend, who has decided to use her college money to open her own bakery, her life's dream, and is in the construction phase. One riding high, one on the way out, one on the way in. Telling, I think, of life's ups and downs, ins and outs.

Of course, the bakery part of the story is irrelevant; the story could be told with any business as the backdrop, just happens in this case, that I have three friends in the bakery-biz. Thinking about these three friends, and their circumstances, raises so many questions...How do find the courage to strike out on your own? How do you keep it going? How long do you struggle and fight to make it before you give up and call it quits?

I guess you could ask those questions of just about any circumstance in life. As a business owner, though, I am always intrigued by what motivates others, what inspires others, what makes some succeed, some fail, some quit, some give up, some keep on keeping on. Someone asked me the other week if I was scared when I opened my store. Without thinking, I answered, "In the moment, I was too dumb to be scared." I opened my store in the worst possible time: right when the economy tanked I was upfitting the store. A whole shop devoted to chocolate, not exactly a necessity. A girl, with no professional training, with no business degree, with just a little home-business, a big mouth, and lots of gumption. Looking back, I should have been scared. It's been almost two years now...in October, I will celebrate being a real store for two years. Time to reflect.

Three friends, one riding high, one coming in, one going out. Which one am I? Not the one starting up, surely, and not the one going out, hopefully. Not quite riding high, or at least, not as high as I'd like. I'll just have to hope I'm on the way up. And hope the ups are big ups, the downs are little downs, and the ins and outs continue.