Know Your Limits

By Emmariah Holcomb

There’s been more rain, the sun is out longer and I’m noticing more new customer advertisements for the industry. These are all welcoming signs of spring and, as you get farther into it, it’s important to know and be aware of your limits.

Yes it’s common for there to be a renewed sense of energy or confidence with each season, as new products, acquisitions and more are announced…but what happens when you try to do a multitude of tasks at the same time? You get told to slow down—by none other than your body.

Stay Healthy

I, like many of you, enjoy doing what I can to help the industry, and thanks to a gnarly head cold, my outlook has changed a little bit. For as long as I can remember I’ve always been the person who wants to keep learning and take on projects and challenges regardless of how I was feeling. From a worker’s standpoint this is great, but it can be tricky to balance at times.

Recently I took on a few new items at the gym—weight training for one— and although I welcome the challenge it didn’t take long for germs to spread and my immune system tanked. I tried to work through it but eventually my body had enough and I needed to take time to get healthy.

Over the years I’ve seen you work though several obstacles all at once to further your business, but it’s okay to take a break before you’re forced to.

I’m sure some of you have noticed a competitor start to offer new services and you think, “Hey I can offer it too,” the only thing is you might not have an installer who’s trained to do so proficiently. So you either start out slow or have to invest in new talent, which most will say isn’t easy to find and keep. If you’re not careful you could be slowly working yourself into a hole.

Accept It

Have you ever noticed some of the simplest of things can be hard to accept? Me too. I’ve learned that it’s okay not to know or be able to offer everything to everyone all of the time and to put your health first so you can be your best for your business.

In the long run you will be able to offer your customers and employees your best skills, thrive as a result of them and gain new techniques when it’s right for you and your business. If not, reality will get you, and get you quickly. You know there’s too much work ahead of you to stop pushing forward.

Although there are twists and turns with the window film industry I, and I know many of you would agree, wouldn’t have it any other way. Now that spring has sprung the time is ticking for this year’s International Window Film Conference and Tint-Off (www.wfctevent.com), there’s still time to register, but don’t wait too long.

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