It was a hot summer day and my job was to clear out the culvert that the beavers had dammed up.
The beavers had somehow got past the cover that was on the front of the culvert which was meant to keep them out.
I propped up the cover to the culvert with a board. I stuck my head through, and was cleaning out the stick and branches with the rake from my truck. As I was doing this, I knocked out the block I had used to prop up the cover with.
The culvert cover slammed down with the force of the water and pinned my head to the top of the metal culvert.
I knew I was in trouble.
Trying not to black out, I pushed against the cover with all my might. I was not only trying to lift the weight of the wooden culvert cover from an awkward angle, but was pushing against the force of the flowing water. I yelled repeatedly down the culvert for help hoping someone in the area would hear me.
After a few minutes, I realized it was hopeless.
It was mid-summer and most people were either at work or away on holidays. With the pain in my head intensifying, I gave it one last try. To this day I still do not know how I did it, but I was able to lift the cover open enough to squeeze my head out.
As I stood up, the pain was immense and the blood sprayed everywhere, I wrapped my head in my shirt and drove for help.
As business owners sometimes we get ourselves in hopeless situations. Perhaps we are stuck, in a bind, and in pain. It might be a problem with our personnel, the pain of competition, our lack of vision, sluggish sales, we might be bleeding cash.
We cry out for help and hope that someone will come out and rescue us.
However, most people around us are so caught up in their own lives that they don't even recognize our cries for help. If they did, they probably wouldn't be able to lift our burdens anyway.
To help a small business owner get unstuck takes special skill and knowledge.
So where do we turn? Sometimes we can find help with the medics of business: our accountants or lawyers. Often times we turn to our associations and ask for help from members who have businesses like ours and faced similar issues.
I personally have a business coach who I talk to on a weekly basis and who has made a huge difference for me. Sometimes it's the encouragement Dennis offers, sometimes I use him as a consultant. Many times it's the fact that my coach keeps me accountable and moving forward because there is nobody else around on a summer day that can get me unstuck.
If you are stuck or bleeding I encourage you to ask for help. I know this takes courage.
If you are resourceful and strong enough sometimes you can get yourself unstuck without assistance, but it can take extra time. If your business is in trouble, you might not have that time.
We don't hesitate when we have a physical emergency to pick up the phone. When we have a business emergency we need to get that aid too.
If you know or support a small business owner and hear their cries for help, encourage them to reach out before its too late. It takes a whole community to support small business.
Dave Fuller, MBA is a small business owner, a certified professional business coach and author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Email [email protected].
