Let’s talk about risk…
The world turned upside down in the last three months.
I have one friend who says it’s like, we’re living in 1918, 1929 and 1968. But all in two months! It’s a crazy time.
It’s almost impossible for me to predict the future. Will we have more COVID cases and shut everything down again? Will the current protests cause real change in government spending and policy? What will November bring? Where will my client’s focus be?
I have no idea.
So how can I predict what my business is going to do over the rest of the year?
With this kind of uncertainty, how can we plan?
How should we decide how to move forward in our business?
I know some people are hunkering down, saying, “Hey, you know, I know what’s worked for me in the past. And so I want to keep doing that thing.” And so they work harder and harder at what worked before.
But there are no guarantees that it will work in the future!
If your business had tremendous margins, and you had more business than you needed, and you’re not serving hospitality/travel or corporate meetings, maybe you can hunker down and see.
But if 2019 was a struggle and cash is getting thin, and your sick of putting up with clients that make you cranky — if the pushing and hustling you have been doing has just been depleting you, leaving you more burned out than energized — then this is an excellent time to make a change.
Is it time to rethink some things?
I mean, when the tables are turned over when all the cards are thrown up in the air, why not make a big change? Why not take a critical look at your business and say, what are the things that are not working for me? What are the places where I need to make a dramatic difference in my business to move it forward?
That might seem like a risky change at this time, but I would argue that standing still might be the most dangerous thing you can do in the middle of a global pandemic, and massive social change, and the most significant depression that we’ve seen in 70 years.
On Saturday, I’ll talk about how you might evaluate what kind of changes to make, but in the meantime, let me know: Are you ready to make significant changes in your business, or are you going to wait this one out?
