“Lucky you!” said our colleague’s email this morning, when we told her we’d been to England and back for a brief 5-day holiday with family and friends. She’s right, of course. How many people get a chance to jet off to another continent for the weekend? But the reason that we were lucky on this particular occasion didn’t have as much to do with good fortune, than it did with taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity, and having faith in the future.
Back in the winter, when business was abysmally slow, and the clients we did have were stretching out payments longer, and longer, and…well, you get the picture, we got a notice for a seat sale. We’d need to buy three tickets. Two were a regular discount fare to Eastern Canada, but the third was a bonus ticket to any one of a number of fabulous world cities including London, for just $199 (Canadian!), taxes and fees included. We thought about this very carefully. We, as many people, are being much more frugal. Did this make sense? We looked carefully at our budget, figured out how to come up with the money (goodbye, new shoes), and decided it did.
Our rationale was threefold: it was an opportunity to see more of our family this year, including Megann’s 95-year-old grandmother, Gladys Hergett, in Nova Scotia, and Steve’s brother Rob, who teaches in the UK. Secondly, we’ve lived through downturns before, and if we didn’t have faith that things would turn around by the time the travel dates arrived, we felt we’d simply be giving up. Finally, whenever we go away for a few days and experience new sights and sounds, the creative juices seem to get flowing and we do a better job of coming up with unique ways to serve our customers. (OK, a fourth reason: when you’re an entrepreneur and take a holiday, business inevitably picks up!)
So we’re suggesting you go out and make some luck for yourselves today. Go somewhere, read something new and different, or take any small step that will give you a fresh perspective.
Here’s to luck,
Megann & Steve
The View From Here 