One of the biggest lessons I learned in 2015 is perspective. Perspective is a big deal, right next to communication (which I’ll get to in another post).

My husband and I transitioned from employees to employers in 2015. The employees had no idea what was happening in 2014 as we went back and forth with the previous owners, finalizing the sale and preparing for the hand-off.

We walked into work on January 2, 2015, and announced that the previous owners were retiring and that my husband and I would be taking over as the new bosses. We came in with ideas for change, excitement, and vision for the future. However, what we didn’t bring in was perspective.

We never stopped to consider how this change might feel from the other side.

To our employees, who had been our coworkers just days before, this announcement likely sparked fear and uncertainty. From their viewpoint, two thirty-somethings were suddenly going to run the company. What if we made terrible decisions? What about job security? The comfort of familiar leadership was gone. And on top of that, we talked about new technology and new processes, things that might have sounded intimidating or even threatening to people who’d done things a certain way for decades.

With my education in business and more than ten years of management experience, my husband and I informally agreed that I would create the plan, and we would implement it. Yet we never discussed the details; we lacked communication. I had some idea of what ownership looked like and what went into running a business. Still, I didn’t consider how my husband was feeling, or his perspective, let alone the views of our new employees.

We also needed to clarify who had the final authority in decisions. I quickly realized that my husband was hesitant to make the wrong choice, and given my background, I naturally took on a leadership role. This led to communication issues, as our expectations of each other’s roles didn’t align, and our perception of what the other person thought was clearly misunderstood.

Both my husband and I believed we could hire someone to do my husband’s technical job and shift him into a leadership role, one he had never held before. We also thought we could hire someone to replace me as store manager, allowing me to focus on the business instead of being in it. But the reality was more complicated. His skill set was specialized and nearly impossible to replace without years of mentorship. Additionally, his view of ownership was similar to what most people imagine when they think of being “the boss”: freedom, control, and the ability to steer the ship your way.

What we learned quickly was that ownership isn’t like that at all. It’s not standing at the helm looking out over calm water; it’s being down in the engine room, keeping things running and hoping the waves don’t crash too hard. Education can provide the foundation for management, but until you’re wading through the water and bailing out the waves yourself, you can’t truly understand what it means to lead.

So yes, we all had our rose-colored glasses on, and it took a long time to adjust and truly understand reality and one another’s perspectives.

If I could give one piece of advice to anyone stepping into business ownership, it would be this:
Stop what you’re doing and think about other perspectives. Consider the “what-ifs” you’d rather not face, because you might find yourself living them. Plan as much as you can, but also play devil’s advocate and recognize that both the external and internal environments of a business can change in the blink of an eye. Put yourself in the eyes of those you will lead. Leadership is about perspective and truly understanding the situation before making decisions.

Remove the rose-colored lens.

However, at the end of the day, until you walk a mile, you cannot truly understand. Another business owner once said to me, “It’s like when your parents tell you all the things about life, and you think you know everything. Then you start to ‘adult’ and realize you have so much more to learn.”

This lesson isn’t just for small-business owners—it’s for everyone.
The view we take tends to be closed behind four walls, and we rarely look outside them. As a leader or employee, it’s essential to take a moment, step back, and try to understand other perspectives. When we start a job, we often have a limited understanding of what’s happening within an organization. We have those four walls around us. As we take on more responsibility, learn our roles, cross-train, and listen to our peers, we begin to tear down those walls and gain a broader perspective.