(originally published March 8th, 2005)

I was talking to another solo proprietor this evening. She’s been in business for herself for close to two years, and she’s struggling. She’s making some money, but not nearly enough for the amount of work she’s putting into it. Mentally, she’s frazzled, and putting in upwards of 15 hours a day.

I asked her how she was doing, and got the same response. I asked her if I found some motivational tapes and CDs for her to listen to, if she’d listen to them. She said she would, and was glad I had reached out to her.

We all see someone who, every once in awhile, is going through a tough time of it. Sometimes we can help; sometimes we can’t. If you happen to be a manager and one of your employees is going through a rough time, though you should rarely get into personal issues, you should at least try to alleviate whatever is impeding their performance in the work place. You’d do it for your friends, after all. And I’m betting you see your employees more than your friends, at least on a daily basis.