Balance- Real Jobs, Metal Art Business and Family Time.

Holy smokes. The beginning of 2019 has been hectic beyond expectations. Usually the beginning on a new year brings a little slower season for us. 2019 has been anything but slow. Not complaining as it is nice to see customers still looking to purchase our products even after the holiday season is over. Not only are we still creating custom orders, filling, predesigned item, orders but we are looking into purchasing a new bigger #CNC table later this month. Unless you know us personally or have had the chance to run across us at a show, and even there, you probably don’t know that we both still work regular jobs. We have worked hard at making it so our customers don’t have to wait for their orders leaving them clueless that we don’t do metal art fulltime. With that being said we have also come to realize that we need to have a good balance between our regular jobs, our passion for the shop and enjoying life as a married couple with a family! How do we do it all? Well honestly we ask ourselves that question several times a week.

Taking care of ourselves is a huge key in our having a balanced life. Here are a few ways that we find time to balance our need to work regular jobs, fulfill our desire to be in the shop to grow our business and still know who we are and what we stand for at the end of the day.

Bring Your Hobby Everywhere With You!

Ernie and I love to fish and snowmobile. While we can’t bring our sleds everywhere with us you best believe that before snow flies we have a couple fishing poles somewhere hidden in the truck. You never know when you might come across that perfect brook that has great pools that are calling for a quick cast. Fishing+Country Brook = sanity
I’ll be honest we have a camp in #Vermont which is where we go to do most of our relaxing and get away fishing. Not to say #Massachusetts doesn’t have great fishing spots because we kayak plenty right here with our poles in tow. We just tend to be able to fully relax when we remove ourselves from the work environment.

Like I said we love to snowmobile also. This hobby gives us an excuse to take time away from the shop during the cold dark months of the year. Well that was until 2019 arrived, where we have very little snow and lots of order to fill. There’s always 2020 right? You might be able to tell that we are outdoor country loving people. Just simply being in nature and not inside a building can help us break the feeling of being burned out or bored.

Find Hidden Opportunities

In every things we do we try and find the hidden opportunities to enjoy being with each other and or with our children. If we are meeting with a customer somewhere we try and schedule in a dinner date or a trip down a country road reminiscing to or from the meeting. If we are traveling for a show or to deliver a #firepitglobe we figure in extra hours or a day that allows us to stop somewhere new to us. When things don’t go as planned we try and look on the positive side and remind ourselves we are just making memories.

Relax and Take a Break

This is the most important part of this entire blog. Are you paying attention? When it comes down to it we all have important stuff to do. If we don’t do it, it just isn’t going to get done. Prioritizing our stuff is KEY to success and not being overwhelmed. How many small things have you put at the top of your list when in fact they could have been shuffled down a little? I am a firm believer that if you’re too busy for the things that bring you joy or to spend time with your loved ones pursuing your passions, then you might be too busy.

Thanks for taking time to relax with us… we will see you back here next week! Don’t forget you can follow more of our daily updates on Facebook.