349. My departing found a job paying 3x, pumped for him!

What happens when a key team member lands a dream job, leaving you to face the harsh realities of a struggling business? Join us on an emotional journey as we reflect on the impact of our employee's exciting new role at a local car dealership and what it reveals about the state of our own endeavors. As business owners, we're confronted with tough decisions regarding transparency and the balance between sharing too much and too little with our team. This episode is a raw exploration of the challenges of leadership, where the stakes are high, and the emotions are real.

Navigating the choppy waters of business closure, we debate the merits of giving notice versus making a sudden exit, drawing from advice and personal experience. We wrestle with the notion of being open with our staff about financial struggles and the unintended consequences it may bring. This candid conversation sheds light on the responsibility of owning a business and the relentless pursuit of maintaining one's integrity and values amidst adversity. Listen in as we ponder how to keep a heart in business, even as we face decisions that weigh heavily on our conscience.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:50

Happy Friday. I'm struggling to find a role and he found a role at a local car dealership through referrals, through some networking. And someone said like hey, like the GM, he's a good dude. Um, he's great at sales, he's really good at this. And so he walked in and after like 10 minutes, like yeah, like you're hired, like just fill out this paperwork and we'll get you going. They told him the OTE, the on target earnings in the sales world. That's like if you hit your goal, that's what you'll make in a year. Dude, it's almost triple what I'm paying him. Like he can make over triple what I can pay him as a man, as a business owner. And, dude, I'm stoked for him, I'm excited, I'm thrilled. He's not just interviewing, walking around town trying to find a way to replace his pay, but like, I'm stoked for him, I'm excited, I'm celebrating it. And so he's with the business, he's with me through the end of next week, but then he starts his new gig shortly thereafter and I'm intentionally not telling him the future of the gym.

Speaker 1: 1:49

He knows that like, it's not in a great spot and, unfortunately, like it sounds like everyone knows, like other people, random people, are asking me about the health of the business. Are we gonna stay open? Are we gonna do this? We do that. I'm learning. I should never have done that transparency with my staff. All it does is it opens up fear and anxiety, and now they get to be afraid multiple months, multiple days, not just that, be sad the day that something bad happens. So, for better or worse, like that's what I'm taking away and now, now, in the future, yes, I want to be transparent, I want to have open book policy, but for better or worse, I don't know like how that benefits the company. Like and I know this clip is going to come back to haunt me. But let's be real, when you're open and transparent about a business that's struggling, does that benefit the employees? Does that make their? Does that make them work better? Does that deliver more value to clients? Does that help them go find new business? Does that help get more customers? Does that help them go find new business? Does that help get more customers? Does that help service existing customers better when everyone knows that the business is not doing well? Well, I doubt it. If your business is profitable and you're telling everyone like that you're profitable, you're doing well, people now ask for discounts. They now ask for, for gimme's or for things that are not beneficial to the company, and so in this moment in time, right now, today, I don't think it makes sense to have a transparent profit and loss policy.

Speaker 1: 3:24

I may change. I want to give myself credit for that. So if you run the clip and you don't include the clip about that I want to have that open for readdressing the future then you're violating the agreement here. But I'm just something I'm learning. So, based off the council that I've talked to and had, um, I've heard different things. I've heard folks say, like, hey, give the members 30 days notice, then you can end their billing cycles cleanly. I've heard all the folks say just wake up one day and the door is locked and that's the end of the gym.

Speaker 1: 4:02

I've heard a few random things of like hey, like let's give this last challenge a hoorah, three month heads up, but at the end of the day, like, this business only financially impacts me. People pay for a product or service, but this only financially impacts me. People pay for a product or a service, but this only financially impacts me. And so, ultimately, I need to get I need to get counsel for the things that affect me, because this is my decision. My business and the customers are impacted, but they can replace me at the drop of a hat too, and so I'm trying to figure out how to do business with a heart, because I have a heart and my heart keeps getting broken over and over.

Speaker 1: 4:43

And so, just talking out loud um, the GM who's wrapping up, he's referred me out to someone I can do some side hustle work. Um, get, do a little bit of things to make a little extra money so that we can buy kids Christmas presents this next year. I want to be able to replace my wife's car and put gas in the tank, so got to figure out how to do that. And so, yeah, man, I don't know All I have to say. This is the end of week nine and had a good workout, got some work done for my day job, and we're going to go have a good day tomorrow and a good day today and go finish up work at home. I'm I'm trying to think out loud on how to do this. Well, I'm going to do right by people and for what it's worth'm going to help the people like you not make the same mistakes that I made and, learning from the past, learning in the present as we go. So that's where we're at, that's where we're going. Let's rock and roll.