I have been a small business owner for 27 years now. I know a few things about ups and downs and how to deal with them. Like many people out there, I have never experienced a “down” as bad as the past 5 years. I went from a thriving business to struggling to just pay the bills. I am the type of owner who puts his employees first and while I have had to cut costs, I have not laid anyone off. I take pride in this and I know my employees appreciate it as well. While they aren’t happy I had to get rid of Bagel Friday and summer trips to Great Adventure, they understood the reasoning behind the decisions. I only had one cost cutting idea backfire on me, and it was definitely not the one I expected. Every year I would give my employees a birthday card with a very nice personal message in it thanking them for their hard work. While the birthday cards aren’t overly expensive, I figured why not save a few bucks? I did not foresee the disappointment following this decision.
