Starting a business and raising a puppy

As it’s 6 months since I started my business and 3 months since we got the puppy, I thought I’d compare the experiences to date.

HAPPINESS: I’ve spoken to lots of people working in large and medium sized companies in the past few months and they all say it’s been an incredibly tough year as work has become more intense, but recruitment has become so difficult. On that basis, working for myself has definitely improved my overall wellbeing. On a scale of 1 to 10 we’d have to give the puppy 500 out of 10 for the happiness he’s brought us. And I get to enjoy him more as I can better manage my own time.

LOYALTY: Because we are so devoted to the puppy, we presume the feeling is mutual, and he does seem to like us and miss us when we go out. However, he also whined for 10 minutes the other day when the window cleaner left, so maybe he’s not that choosy. In my business, I picked up some clients very early on and I will always be extremely grateful to them for giving me the confidence that I was on the right path.

RESPONSIVENESS: The puppy’s very good at responding when there’s a treat available but has very selective hearing when we are trying to train him to walk and especially when crossing the road. It’s a similar experience communicating with prospects when running your own business. We can be having a great dialogue and then they totally disappear for weeks at a time. Am still trying to fathom out both.

Overall, both have been great experiences so far and I’ve learnt a lot. Guess it wasn’t too late for this old dog to learn some new tricks 😊