I awoke this morning to find a note from our daughter, who left for work at 5:15 AM. “Mom and Dad, there’s water on the wall behind the freezer.”
My husband Jim discovered a tiny leak in an exposed cold water pipe in the basement above the freezer. A very fine mist was spraying over the wall and dripping down.
“That’s the only line we didn’t replace when we did over the plumbing a few years ago,” he said, “because it runs up to the bathroom and is behind walls.”
So squeezed in between business matters has been plumbing repair which eventually will lead to a bathroom overhaul. Jim turned off the water to that portion of the house until we could get to a “repair” point in the daily schedule so he could analyze fully what needs to be done.
Do you have those days with your business? When the unplanned, unexpected happens and you have to squeeze in solutions to the challenges, along with getting your regular tasks completed?
*Sometimes it means working longer hours to get everything done.
*Sometimes you leave the challenge (if it’s not an emergency) until after your business day is finished.
*Sometimes it means giving up a social engagement.
*Or you learn to juggle and hope everyone affected by delays will understand. Usually they do.
This wasn’t the only disruption in the past week. The day before Christmas, the faucet on the kitchen sink began leaking, dripping down under the sink and onto the floor. Another morning the electricity went off while we were preparing breakfast and other family members were getting ready for work away from home. Fortunately the power company had that back on within an hour. But we decided we’d better check out the generator and make sure it’s in working condition in case winter storms wreck havoc this winter.
Fortunately, I didn’t have the problem a friend experienced yesterday. We were talking on the phone when she exclaimed, “Mary, I’ve got to go. Water is leaking on my products.”
Later she explained that somehow melting ice and snow had leaked under the patio and through the ceiling of her storage room, soaking some of the merchandise she keeps there for her home business. There wasn’t too much damage, but enough that they had to move everything from the small room.
Some challenges you can’t plan for nor avoid. But you can have strategies in place that enable you to keep going with your business in spite of disruptions.
What do you do?
(c)2007 Mary Emma Allen
Share This
