What To Do When Work Takes Over Your Life.

The pace of our lives today, and the fact that modern technology means we’re always contactable, can make it very difficult for us to “switch off” from work. Of course we all have times when we’re especially busy, and need to put in extra hours. But, for a healthy work-life balance, that situation needs to be the exception rather than the norm. For liquidation buyers and closeout brokers this is especially difficult. Deals on discontinued inventory and closeouts can happen anytime, anywhere. When a company needs to get rid of inventory, there are no boundaries to when this will happen. Especially if a business is shutting down and liquidating it’s 3PL warehouse or downsizing warehouses. In this article, we help you to identify the warning signs that work is taking over, and give you some practical tips to help you get your life back. Closeout brokers and liquidation buyers can have both a work and personal life.

You are regularly working more than 10 hours a day.
However hard you work, you never, ever get to the bottom of your in tray.
You can’t remember the last time you had a really good laugh in the office.
You routinely suffer from the Sunday Night Blues.
When you get home from work, you feel physically and emotionally drained.
You can’t get through the working day without regular fixes of caffeine/chocolate/nicotine.
You’ve got a reputation among your friends for always canceling at the last minute.
You take work home with you in the evening or at weekends.

If these statements describe you and your situation, you’re getting to the point where work is taking over your life. Buying closeouts has become more challenging than ever, and finding discontinued inventory and excess inventory is a full time job in itself. Closeout brokers used to be able to make a few calls, attend some trade shows, and call it a successful day. But that is not the case anymore. Competition for closeouts is fierce and in order to find the best deals, liquidation buyers have to be on top of everything. That’s no way to live. Work should be something that adds to, not detracts from, the quality of your life. If all you ever do is talk about buying excess inventory and spend every waking hour responding to emails about businesses shutting down 3PL warehouses or downsizing warehouses, you will be stuck. Your work should interest you, energize you, and give you a buzz. But it should also leave you time to enjoy the other aspects of your life – your friends and family, your hobbies, and other interests. We work best when our lives are in balance. But today, the business climate is so competitive it is easy to become all consumed with work.

So if you’ve allowed yourself to get into the situation where work is ruling your life and your nearest and dearest have almost forgotten what you look like, it may be time to make a change. Closeout companies specialize in buying overstock inventory from companies with too much stock. When sales slow down and business decreases it may be time to consider getting rid of inventory that is taking up too much warehouse space. You can do this with the help of a liquidator or closeout buyer specializing in selling inventory for companies with too much merchandise. You can find these companies by doing a simple Google search for these terms – closeouts, overstock inventory, excess stock, too much merchandise, obsolete stock. You will surely find a business that can help if you are trying to reduce inventory or get rid of dead stock taking up warehouse space. You may want to have an auction, sell dead stock, or just get rid of slow moving inventory but these closeouts buyers can help in any case.

You don’t have to be the first person in or the last person out every day to be effective: in fact, people who work ridiculously long hours are simply demonstrating that they aren’t able to cope with the job! Make an effort to leave on time at least 3 nights a week – your colleagues will thank you for it. You should be able to buy closeouts without having to spend your life at it. A good way of making yourself stick to this is to put a specific appointment in your diary so that you have a reason to leave on time. Many closeout buyers and overstock buyers now work either full or part time from home to spend less time in the office.

Learn to say “no”. Every time you say “yes” to a task, you are saying “no” to something else, so make sure that you choose the right things to say “no” to. Make a list of priorities and make decisions accordingly. One example of this for closeout companies is traveling to visit warehouses needing to get rid of inventory. In many cases you can just as easily schedule a Zoom or FaceTime meeting to view any excess inventory of overstock merchandise. You can take a virtual tour when a company is downsizing and liquidating inventory. This saves a great deal of time for travel. Obviously this is more difficult in a situation where your boss has asked you to do 3 things at once – but don’t let them get away with passing their own inability to prioritize onto you: ask them which task is more important or needs to be completed first.

You spend seemingly every waking moment in the office. And, when you do finally manage to escape, you use those precious hours to compulsively refresh your work email. And, the thought of taking a vacation? Just forget about it. The effort and resulting stress involved in being proactive with your workload would completely negate the point of your time away. In the old days, buying and selling excess inventory was much easier and took a lot less effort. In today’s environment it takes more time and effort to identify the right closeout opportunities, take advantage of the best deals, and find closeout buyers capable of following through.

If your life seems totally void of any downtime you can use to recharge and relax, that’s a huge indicator that you should pull back the reins a little bit and find a little more balance. If your friends can’t even remember what you look like, you know you’ve been chained to your desk a little too long. A lot of closeout brokers have figured out how to work remotely from home and enjoy life while running a successful closeout company.

Here’s the thing about being a hustler and a go-getter—the lazy people in your office can spot you from a mile away. And, as soon as you prove you’re willing to scoop up that extra work and run with it, you’re going to find yourself with more and more added to your plate.

When you think about your current work situation, are you carrying your entire team and department on your back? If you’re feverishly nodding yes right now, it’s probably time you reevaluate, speak up, and command some fair treatment. While it’s good to be a team player, you definitely don’t want to turn into doormat. Selling closeouts is a team effort and takes a group of people to make the business work. If one person is buying closeouts, doing all the paperwork, selling overstock inventory and managing the customer base, something has to change.

You’re sitting at happy hour with your close friends, when somebody poses the question of where you all see yourselves 10 years from now. Your pals all mention their careers—but they also include families, travel, and new experiences they’d love to have.

You? Well, you’re so zoned in on that corner office, a big promotion, and the inevitable salary increase, that you can’t even be bothered to think of anything else. Buying closeouts and selling them for profit should be a means to an end. Not the end itself. Keep in mind the closeout business offers much more than money. You can make life-long friends by buying and selling overstock inventory.

Yes, having lofty career goals is definitely a great thing. But, it’s important to remember that your job isn’t your life—it’s really just one piece of the puzzle. So, don’t let it make up the entirety of the picture.

The trick is finding the delicate balance between working hard (or, let’s say, killing it at work)... and also making time for yourself. If you suspect work is taking over your life, it probably is. It’s easier said than done, but you can figure out how to adjust your mindset or your workload so you can function both in and out of the office. Maybe you can do more work from home and buy or sell some closeout inventory from your living room with your dog sleeping next to you. It might be possible to work just as hard liquidating inventory part time from home in a more relaxed siting. Maybe it's speaking up for yourself and making sure you’re not taking on an unreasonable amount of responsibility. This can come in the form of a candid conversation with your manager, or simply volunteering someone else for a project. Maybe it's setting forced breaks — blocking hours on your calendar where you're unavailable to get more done from 9 to 5. Or maybe it's searching for a new role that let's you put the rest of your life up front, for once.

Merchandise USA is a reliable closeout buyer and overstock inventory liquidator in business more than 38 years. If you are shutting down a business or downsizing your 3PL warehouse we can help you liquidate inventory. Our specialties are housewares closeouts, overstock toy inventory, excess lawn and garden inventory and all other closeouts.