Home Stretch…
We’re headed into the last weekend of August and the last weekend of being open full hours this year!
Safe to say, I’m ready to wind things down for the fall.
It has been an amazing summer. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished and grateful for the great weather, strong visitor numbers (people avoiding the states has really helped PEI!) and, of course, I have the best team around! But, as with any marathon, there must be a finish line.
And, let me tell you, running a tourism business is a lot like long distance running. It’s all about pacing yourself!
I think tourism operators are built differently.
When we are in, we are ALL IN! And that takes a lot of time & energy. The way we work is not sustainable year round but it is necessary for us to get through our season. And since buying the family business in 2019 I’ve learned a lot about what this looks like for me.
I used to sprint through the whole summer and then continue that pace for the rest of the year too. It took getting severely burned out to realize that it wasn’t possible to keep going like that. I’ve made decisions and changes that allow me to give my all to the peak seasons of my year (lobster & deep sea) and then work at a slower pace through the rest of the year.
And while tourism businesses are being encouraged to stay open longer, I’m confident in our decision to slow things way down on Labour Day with the plan to be fully closed before the end of September.
We already have a lot less people on the island as families get ready to go back to school so this really just makes sense for us. It was nice to see that the week after Old Home Week stayed strong, defying the island saying that summer is over after the Gold Cup race. (That somewhat helped make up for the fact that summer tourism doesn’t start until after CBMF but that’s a conversation for another time.)
After months of being so connected to my phone I’m ready for some space away from devices. I got a taste of this when I went camping at Twin Shores for 4 days, my phone spent most of that time in the tent and it felt so good. Once we’re closed I can comfortably and confidently be away from my phone without worry.
Embracing technology has been a key factor in the growth us our business which I am so happy to have but the sense of being “on” all the time makes it hard to ever fully charge the battery.
Every interaction I have with customers takes energy. We strive to ensure the customer journey is great from their first interaction with us to their last. I really enjoy it and I know that I have my limits.
This year, I was much stricter with my boundaries when it came to managing my energy and replenishing my social battery. I’m finally catching on after my 7th year in business. I’m lucky to have a great support network who understands that my availability changes depending on the season so we find different ways to stay connected and supportive of one another.
As the season comes to an end I’m planning time to reflection & recovery. I want to capture lessons learned from the season while they are still fresh and give myself space to rest and recover through the off season while we prepare for 2026.
