To preface this blog, I am sharing my experience of what I considered a family emergency as a solo business owner. There are all levels of personal emergencies in this world and I’m certainly not putting a blanket solution on all of them - only sharing perspective to possibly help one business owner out there.

I don’t know if you know about my grandma. She is 90 and she is perfect.

Right now, I’m sitting next to her as she sleeps in a rehabilitation/medical facility. She had a fall while we were on vacation. Fortunately, there were other family members close by to help when we ultimately had to call the ambulance from hundreds of miles away.

After a few days in the hospital they transferred her to a rehab center to get her strength back and heal her fractured spine. I KNOW! She fractured her spine!!!

We are all taking shifts being with her so she isn’t alone 24 hours a day. She has dementia, gets scared AND has a language barrier.

She’s lived with my parents ever since her husband died 37 years ago before I was born. She watched my siblings and I while my parents worked growing up and we’ve always lived with her.

It’s an understatement to say she is incredibly special to us.

She is hilarious, she prays for everyone she meets, she will never stop teaching me life lessons or talking about people in Japanese right in front of them.

This is the first time a family crisis came up while being a business owner. As you would imagine, there is no one to cover for me. The work doesn’t get done unless I’m there to do it and the money doesn’t come in unless I’m doing the work.

It’s… scary.

It’s also what I signed up for. It’s a very REAL trade off for being a W-2 wage earner.

I can’t say its more stressful than when I was employed. With a personality like mine, I still worked if things came up – and then there was the added pressure of letting your team down or pushing work onto them.

This whole experience gave me quite a bit of shock and anxiety. Suddenly I was needed somewhere else other than in my business and home. How could I fit more in my day and do all the things?

Again, you do you. This is what I experienced, take what you want and leave the rest but here are my takeaways:

1. Don’t overbook with work, ever. – because life happens. If I’m working 60-hour weeks, then there is no room for error…and also no life! Even in tax season, I don’t over commit myself. It’s not fair to my clients, my family or me!

2. If you already messed up #1 - be proactive in your schedule. When the event happens start clearing your schedule or lightening it BEFORE you start needing to miss meetings. I’ve been adjusting a week in advance and giving lots of notice.

3. Force alternating family members to be on a schedule – I created a schedule for my entire family to take shifts and stick to it. This is how I don’t worry about being here when I’m not, and vice versa.

4. Always have a reserve for non-income generating time - This is relatively easy for me because my work is so seasonal, but I recommend having 3-6 months in business and personal reserves just in case of emergency.

5. Be transparent – when clients ask me how I am, instead of pretending everything is normal I tell them I’m worried about my grandma. They have grandma’s too…they get it.

And the real winner in all of this:

6. Accept help!!! Sure, no one else can do my business for now…but there is a lot of other things I can get help with. Pre-made meals, housework, admin work, transportation for your child, coffee breaks, etc.

Those same people who rallied behind you to build your badass business, also care about YOU.

There isn’t much division between life and business when you love what you do, make it continue to work for you.

And the next time another business owner (or human being) is in need, pay it forward.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive these last couple weeks!

PS. These pictures were from a generational shoot 2 WEEKS before my grandma’s fall by Irina Negrean. The timing was absolutely freaky and I will cherish these photos forever. If you are thinking about taking generational photos, DO NOT WAIT! Just do it, you will love them.

PSS. Threw in this last one because…I can.