Best Boss Ever

Written By Allie Perry August 10, 2024

If I told you that my best employee had a challenging month full of injuries, illness, and family loss, and that I’d given her a whole week to take it easy and do only her most important, time-sensitive work so, free from the mental and physical burden of a heavy workload, she could let her body heal and recover, you’d think I was the best boss ever. 

But when I tell people that after I had a challenging month full of injuries, illness, and family loss, I’d devoted a whole week to only my most important, time-sensitive work so I could let my own body heal and recover, suddenly people forget that I am my best employee and my own boss.

The most short-sighted people have said, “Wow, it must be nice to do whatever you want all the time.” Because we all know that owning a small business is just chock full of leisure time, and even when the only employee of that business can’t work, the money still just rolls right in. 

In case you didn’t recognize it, that was🚨sarcasm🚨.

The very well-meaning people encourage me to take full advantage of my self-employment and take as much time off as I need. After all, what am I going to do…fire myself for taking too much PTO?  These folks know being healthy and well-rested is important for me when running a business all by myself, but they too forget that since I’m the only employee, if I’m not earning money for the business, no one is…and PTO stops having the all-too-important P attached.

Those of you who know me best fully understand that I’m very much a rub-some-dirt-on-it-and-keep-going kind of person, and my decision to take it easy for a week must mean I really need to take it easy for a week.

But in this crazy hustle culture, where our worth is judged by the number of hours we’ve worked and we’re met with eye rolls any time we mention a work-life balance, giving myself the luxury of time to restore my physical and emotional wellness seems selfish, almost decadent.

I spent most of my career working too many hours and missing out on too many life events. While I was sacrificing my health and happiness for boss after boss who viewed me as nothing more than a commodity, my life was passing me by.

Friends celebrated weddings while I sat in a hot parking lot and briefly watched on FaceTime during my too-short lunch break I’d scheduled around the ceremony.

People I loved were laid to their final rest while I worked at my bench and hastily wiped away hot, silent tears so my customers wouldn’t see them.

I ran a customer-facing department alone, through illness and chronic pain, with my bright, forced customer service smile fooling everyone into thinking that working every single Saturday and never having two days off in a row wasn’t slowly crushing me under it’s compounding weight.

And I know you’ve done it too.

You've given too much to your job at one point or another. You’ve missed something important because you couldn’t get the time off of work. You prioritized work over living your life.

No more.

Now that I’m over here running the show, I will work harder than I’ve ever worked for anyone else, and I will live my life more fully than I ever have.

Because I’m the best boss ever, and my best employee deserves it.