3 month and going
Sunday, April 26th, 2009This post is in english, because it feels bad for all the german and foreign readers, to only be able to follow my sisters journeys.
And I thought I could try to sharpen up my english as well.
I have now, since mid-January, had the café at SHIP, here in Helsingborg. It is a very charming café, some tell me the coolest in town, and I do like it very much. Thats what makes it all fun so far.
Looking back at my first 3 month, or almost 4 now, I can tell that it has been a quite different experience compared to what I expected. My assumption had been that it would not bring me very much new experience, since I had:
1) run a café before
2) had my own business before
3) worked with students as costumers before
I had however not run a conferens center before (the café is also host and reception to the 7 conferens rooms at SHIP). But I figured that wouldn’t be hard to learn.
That proved to be true.
However, what I did learn was alot of personal boundaries. I am still not “ready” with finding my own daily routines, and I still feel that a lot of time is “wasted”. I can’t say on what exactly, but I come to SHIP early every day, leave late, and seem not to have accomplished much in between. Which always feels bad, because there are tons of things that I want / need to do. More marketing is needed, better selection of products, better routines for the staff. Everything can be improved, and some are quite urging.
But I have learned to live with that feeling, and not let it bother me in my daily life.
If I would summarise the experience with the café so far it would be:
+ Learnt to better understand my own boundries
+ Practical experience with delegation
+ Better sense for business (at least a little)
+ Learnt that daily routines are essential for getting things done
- Spent alot of time
- Spent alot of energy. I have never felt so socially tired as I do now.
- Not really earned any money.
As my old boss, and also café owner told me: Experience is always good, and always cost money, time and energy. The key is to get the experience as cheaply as possible.
With that in mind I will see what happens after this summer. Nothing is decided yet, but I have signaled my interest to continue – until the end of the year at least.