Let it go

Those of you who have young children or grandchildren might be familiar with a Disney movie by the name of Frozen that has become wildly popular in recent years. If you know the film, then you also know that it has a particularly catchy soundtrack, with songs that will be stuck in your head for days at a time, especially when you’ve seen the movie as many times as I have (I have two young boys).   

There’s one song that I haven’t been able to shake for some time now called Let It Go. Why should you care? Just hang with me.

I’m writing this while sitting in an airport waiting to board a delayed flight to Palm Springs for a business trip. Leaving the office, especially at the peak of the magazine production cycle—which it is—is not easy. Many immediate needs have to be delayed or delegated. Plenty of remote communication will (and already has) happened. 

But you know, there’s a lesson in that Disney song, Let It Go, that’s playing in my head. It’s a lesson that could probably benefit many of you as shop operators as well. 

You can’t be involved in everything, and you really shouldn’t be if you want your business and your staff to grow. Sometimes to truly move forward, you have to first let go of the things that are holding you back, and that goes beyond tasks.

Let go of the philosophies that lead you to believe your staff can’t handle the work or that you have to have the final say—or the first say. Let go of the anxiety. 

Here’s to letting go in 2016, and seeing what we gain. 

Jake Weyer, editor

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