4 shops and counting...

So my boss dropped yet another grenade on me today. That we're POSSIBLY opening our 5th shop this year. Does that mean I don't get to get a single day of vacation for two years?

I haven't hired enough and my existing team is not strong yet. I'm semi-flattered he thinks I can pull it off. He said he tested me with impossible deadlines and each time I turned him down flatly and told him it's not realistic. I worked at my own pace, refused to burn out my staff and prayed for discernment to know what is urgent and what is not. My staff must have at least one day off a week and if not, during peak seasons, they get to claim off days within three months. Yet, each time, we managed, by the sheer grace of God to exceed expectations.

So far, that has gone without a glitch and I fully intend to keep this record of not overworking people and creating a different kind of work culture. I know many eyes are on me because I'm the (quite) young noob out of no where sent to set up a new division in unchartered waters in 27 years of the company's history but this time, I am semi- daunted.

Maybe because it's the phase in life I'm in but with so many opportunities opening up all at once, (most companies wait a good 3 years for a good retail space), I'm beyond overwhelmed. Besides, no matter what they say about the Singapore job scene, there are almost 33k service jobs vacancies waiting to be filled. With one or two stores, I stand in as beauty advisor/store manager/stock packer every now and then but with 5? I haven't learnt the art of cloning myself and the resumes are not coming in fast enough.

I was plain blessed (glory to God) to recently hire two very excellent staff that I can safely hand the keys of one store to. Each time I settle one operational issue, my boss unearths a whole new mine for me to work on. It's like digging for gold during the gold rush. It's an excellent opportunity and I shouldn't complain but I CONFESS here, I'm SCARED!!!

What I wish I could tell him: Please realise I'm human and anyone else you hire can't pull this off without ample help too.

What I wish I could tell others: stop rewarding good work with more work and stop staring at me watching my every move because even though I'm pretty good at ignoring you, it's unnerving for my team.

Also, please stop poaching from my team just because it does well. We excel only because of each other and not because of an individual's effort.

So there, by september, I would have fulfilled two years' budget. Unless of course he wants me to do three years' budget in two years or 5 and so on. I can't keep track. I want this job and I'm enjoying it which is why I'm mustering ALL my guts to draw boundaries and discern. I don't want to lose my marbles or my job so let's work something that's mutually beneficial. No, wait, let's just work out something feasible.