Hello lovely,
You, likely like me, have been awash in a narrative of business in crisis.
The Prime Minister, a man whose actions suggest to me that he’s being paid by the Chinese Communist Party (intense desire to technocratically track every Aussie compulsorily, shutting down half the private sector, forcing Aussies onto welfare so they can be more easily controlled, etc) has, as I mentioned, shut down half or more of the private sector.
Yeah it’s a “tin-hat” view, but that’s my considered opinion — and I am definitely not the only entrepreneur with such a view. Take it or leave it, I don’t much care. ;) If your preferred channel of “news” is the state-owned and state-controlled ABC, don’t bother arguing.
Anyway. Back to business in crisis.
Yes, the panic that people got into affected my company’s cashflow, just like it’s affected a lot of other people’s.
Some of my clients lost every one of their clients.
Some have been busier than they have ever been in their lives.
As for me? I’ve got new prospects, new sales, and people emerging from the woodwork. Plus, new projects, and new opportunities.
So what gives? IS business in crisis?
No. Small business owners are in crisis.
Right now is a great time to see those people who’d rather have a job separately from those who are entrepreneurs.
What I mean is this: An entrepreneur will problem-solve what’s going on. They’ll sell, more than ever. They’ll ignore the segments that don’t have money and will chase the ones that do. They will do things they haven’t done before, because doing the same things as before won’t work. They will take the time to change direction, to level up, to go hard on on their visions, operations, and efficiencies.
Everyone else will get paralysis. They will market and pitch, but not sell. They will drop their prices, do everything for free. They ‘won’t understand’ cold sales. They will resist everything because of their limiting beliefs, and won’t attempt to change them.
I’ve seen it over and over again among clients. And I’ve seen interesting tendencies in myself.
The truth is that you can always make money in a downturn, if you’re selling the right things to the right people.
One thing I have taken advantage of this time to test is a broader coaching/mentoring offering. Partly because I’m good at it; partly because it gives me insanely brilliant testimonials to use for sales purposes; partly because it’s the kind of evergreen offer that I can continue to fulfil even when I’m on maternity leave.
Where everyone is going argh farken business oooffff, I’m going, well I’ve got six months in which to work out what the farking hell I’m doing with my super successful company.
And it is successful. I’ve had the best year in the history of my business. We’re rocking six figures for the second year in a row, we’ve got great clients, and everything is awesome.
So, I’m on the hunt for talent. Again.
But I feel like that is something for another letter, another day.
Have a sparkling weekend!
~ Leticia
PS. Reply and let me know which camp (employee vs entrepreneur) you fall into and how this “crisis” has changed your thinking.