If your business was sidelined, like millions of others due to the Governor’s orders, did you introspect while off the hamster wheel?
Did you tip the business upside down to reevaluate what is and isn’t working?
Are you using ingenuity to pivot your business in a new direction?
Truth be told, some businesses are indestructible maybe even pandemic proof like grocery stores or residential housing because people need to eat. They need a place to live. If you don’t have a commodity business, then what? I have some ideas about building an indestructible business and if you’re open to a completely different strategy, read on, but first, let’s talk; silver lining.
The spike in jobless claims isn’t because businesses aren’t hiring. Pre-pandemic, there were more jobs than people to fill them. The economic standstill isn’t because Wall Street manipulated the market or because banks gave loans to people with zero ability to pay them back. The business contraction and screeching halt in spending worldwide is the direct result of a virus from Wuhan, China and the Governor’s mandate to shut down all non-essential business.
The upside is, the forced shut down has caused massive demand. Our expedited economic recovery will follow the irrefutable law of supply, but with pent-up demand.
So, what’s that completely different strategy? It isn’t about what your business is, does or sells. I’m talking about two concepts that help to build an indestructible business and, in the process, reclaim personal power. Have a look.
1. Your ultimate power. Regardless of any external circumstance, there’s one thing over which you have absolute control. It’s your ability to think for yourself. Listening to an expert with specialized knowledge is fine. But there’s no rule that says you must blindly obey them. Taking in a wide swath of information from various sources, even from those with different views gives you an expanded perspective. You can compare and contrast. You’ll arrive at discernment, truth and a direction compatible to you and your business. Independent thinking is freedom, and probably the reason it’s encoded in our DNA. As for experts, read the USDA Food Pyramid history. And for opinions, who was fired from a Missouri newspaper for not being, “creative enough.” Walt Disney. When writing the story of your business’ success, never give anyone else the pen.
2. Loss as transformative fuel. Enlightened souls, some business owners among them, recover quickly, in hours or days, from loss. Meaning, they use the energy of loss as fuel to transform an outwardly negative situation into a positive one. In ten days, Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow, did a retrofit of his two-hundred thousand square foot pillow manufacturing facility to produce fifty-five thousand masks per day. There are hundreds of examples of business owners who use loss as fuel to reimagine their business. I guarantee another business owner is going or has gone through what you may be going through and they’ve come back better and stronger than before. Their stories inspire. They may be down, but never for long. Be kind to your mind. Feed it with uplifting business success stories. They’ll take you closer to, not further away, from what you want. Form follows thought.
So, that’s it, Paula? Independent thinking. And using loss as a transformative fuel builds an indestructible business? There’s more, for sure. Although knowledge alone doesn’t work. It’s inert. Daily application is a must. It’s the rocket fuel that makes knowledge work. And mastery of these concepts builds an invincible foundation, that’s where an indestructible business begins.
Paula M. Parker (c) 2020
Originally Published
