Free To Roam

I wrote this post in October 2023 but hesitated to share something so personal. Re-reading it now, I realize these lessons about appreciating small victories still resonate, so I’m finally releasing it to roam free.

Running a small business can be a little bit like a roller coaster. Huge high’s when you have a great day filled with team accomplishments or fantastic sales, deep low’s when you feel unproductive, the sales leads are silent, or worse still there’s a stressful issue that just seems impossible to overcome.

One of the lessons that I have gradually learned over my decades of operating a small business is to take the time to be in the moment and appreciate those positives when they happen.

Life can be hard, but if we allow ourselves to gloss over those little sparks of joy, we’re robbing ourselves of something truly special.

This last month has been a challenging one for me, health stresses, unusually poor sales through September (and the myriad cash flow issues that can stem from that), and a below average personal level of productivity have all weighed on me a bit.

We also received some very rare negative feedback from someone (I suspect a competitor) in a public forum that I found quite upsetting. It included several false statements, which with some effort could be proven as such, but I decided to try to take the high road, rather than engage. Some of our customers had already defended us a bit in that forum, which meant a great deal.

But October so far has been a happier, more positive time. Sales have been sharply up (so thankful for that). I’ve taken some proactive steps on the health front which seem to be making a difference for me. And I’ve been feeling more productive, which for any small business operator can make a huge impact.

The last 24 hours have been particularly special, and in fact, they inspired me to write this blog entry.

First some quick context.

My wife Lovina and I try to go for a walk together nearly every evening, rain or shine. Lately these walks around our neighbourhood have been a little over 3 KM, and we spend perhaps 45 minutes or so stretching our legs, getting a bit of fresh air and exercise, and getting caught up on the day’s events. Sometimes we walk in silence, if one or both of us are out of sorts, sometimes we take turns telling stories or teaching / learning something new (recently we’ve had a focus on Canadian geography). We also keep an eye out for local fauna. We’ve seen racoons, skunks, foxes, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and mice on these walks, and it’s fun to point them out to each other. We seldom see other people (apart from the occasional harried-looking dog walker in PJ’s), as we’re usually walking late at night.

On our stroll October 4th, something unusual happened. We were just reaching the end of our street and about to turn left, when from the corner of my eye I spotted an animal galloping in our direction from quite some distance away. For a split second it crossed my mind that this might be a coyote, or a rabid fox of some kind, to be running directly towards us at such high speed, but then I heard a little bell jingling and I realized it was a cat wearing a bell on its collar.

It came right up to us, and then sat back on its haunches, breathing heavily from its exertion. We’re cat people, I grew up with cats and Lovina has come to really love our orange cat Hunter, but this was the first time I could remember a cat I wasn’t familiar with running up to me like this. I wondered if it was fleeing a predator of some kind, or if it was lost. It seemed happy to get some good attention, and then it paced us for the next KM or so of our walk, sometimes walking just ahead of us like a well-trained dog, other times crossing the street and following us from there. Eventually it turned into a driveway and ran behind a house, and we guessed that perhaps it was home. It had been an unexpected, but welcome interaction, but it left me wondering if there was something more we should have done. In particular I regretted not looking at the cat’s collar for contact info in case it was lost. I also really wished that we had had some cat treats on hand, as the little guy, though clean and well groomed, was just skin and bones.

Every walk since then, we’ve kept an eye out for the little white and grey kitty with the big bushy tail. For a number of days, we also carried cat treats with us, and would pause at the corner of our street where we’d first seen him before, whistling a bit, in case he might hear us and come bounding our way once again. Truth be told I was worried about the little guy, and even felt a smidgen responsible for him in some way.

By the time we were taking our jaunt last night (October 19th) we had nearly given up on seeing him again. We paused only briefly at that same corner, whistled half-heartedly, and didn’t have any treats on hand. As with every other night since that first encounter, he failed to materialize, and we resumed our walk, chatting about the day’s events. About half a KM further along, Lovina exclaimed “Look!” Well ahead of us, but once again running at top speed in our direction, was the little cat. I was happy and relieved to see him again, and determined to do a better job than I had done the previous time. He seemed to remember us from the prior meeting, and this time spent a good five minutes or so rolling around on the sidewalk, exposing his belly for petting and generally being a very affectionate little creature.

Again, I was struck by how skinny he was, and we managed to get him to follow us into a nearby bus shelter, where there was a bit of illumination. I sat down on the metal bench, the kitty jumped up on my lap, and I was able to get a look at his collar. There was a tag there, my eyes had a hard time making it out, but I managed to get a picture with my phone.

“Free to Roam” That’s all it said. But it was such a palpable relief…

Virtually all of my stresses and responsibilities are recurring. A great sales day only carries you through one or two bad ones. A great sales month can get you ahead a bit, but you still need to cover fresh bills the next month too. Since the onset of Covid, the news cycle only seems to be getting more dire. Health and family responsibilities / stresses generally only seem to grow as you get older, so I seldom feel that I’m off the hook, so to speak. But this friendly little cat was “Free to Roam”. His family clearly put that message on his collar to let concerned third parties like Lovina and I know that he was ok. I realized at that moment that I had been carrying a smidgen of stress in the back of my mind for this furry fellow, and it felt so good to completely release that irritating shard.

He followed us another 2 KM or so back to our home. Lovina brought out cat treats and a bowl of water, and he wolfed down the former and lapped up the latter. I’m not sure if we’ll get to hang out with that brave little adventurer again, but I’m hopeful that we will, and at the very least, I know that he’s got a family out there that cares about him.

Back to Radique today, I felt a bit buoyed by that experience last night. My motivation level was high, and I was able to channel that into a great, productive day. Our much valued (and missed) colleague Kay has been on extended leave since the onset of Summer, and a number of the responsibilities that Kay had been looking after have regrettably been allowed to slide in the busy months since then. Today La-Donna and I tackled a few of those, and it felt so good to get a bunch of neglected products organized, and to finally update our “Lonely Hearts Club” list of single speakers.

I let myself bask in these minor accomplishments a little bit, appreciating La-Donna’s consistent hard work and Sarah’s faithfulness in proactively managing her responsibilities for our little business.

Just as that little cat reminded me to appreciate the good moments, I’m grateful for customers who trust us with their audio journeys—and for the chance to give beloved equipment new life with people who’ll truly appreciate it.

My favourite hockey prospect, Joshua Roy has scored 5 points (and counting) in his game for the Laval Rocket tonight, to lead the AHL; another little spark of joy for me.

Perhaps best of all, I was motivated to write this, my first new blog entry since May.

I hope, dear reader, that it finds you healthy and happy.

Enjoy the Music 🙂

Mark