Understand. Adapt. Overcome.

"Every buisness is a movement, most of them just aren't that good. Right now you must be good, actually in many cases, you must be the best. In this economy, the Entrepreneur with the strongest movement behind them wins."

I joined a webinar hosted by Alex Charfen yesterday where he used these three words as an outline of how to manage this crisis: understand, adapt and overcome. If you're unfamiliar with his work, and especially if you are an entrepreneur or hoping to be one some day, check him out, https://www.charfen.com. I'd personally recommend his podcast and following him on Facebook. I won't go into details as to why he's an expert and ideal person to listen to right now, you can learn that for yourself, but I wanted to take some of what he explained yesterday and break it down into my own thoughts and how this can apply for a smaller scale business, in your personal life, or if you were just in the beginning stages of taking your side hustle up a notch.

UNDERSTAND

We need to understand the facts of what is happening. Not the opinions, political views, who's supposedly to blame, what could have been done, etc. All of that is noise and it doesn't matter. What matters are facts from reputable sources with numbers, charts, and non-biased information. It's important to then think through, using historical data if available, what this looks like in the big picture for the future. Like I said in a previous post, it's about being REALISTIC. Not doomsday, not optimistic, but real life, big picture. If you are only considering real estate for example, and not looking at unemployment, retail, manufacturing, etc. you are missing a HUGE piece of the puzzle. All of those puzzle pieces go together, you cannot have a complete picture without them. (Good metaphor, Alison) No matter how big or small you are, the facts matter and they do affect you both personally and professionally. And you're going to feel a lot better when you have an understanding of what is going on that has nothing to do with what your brother's best friend posted on Facebook.

ADAPT

So now you understand what is going on, and some potential future scenarios, what are you going to do about it? Where does your current business fit? Is there even a place for it? As a smaller business or start up, this is a HUGE opportunity for you. You have the ability to pivot much easier than a larger, established company with hundreds of employees and share holders. You need to accept that what was is no longer and focus on what can be. Don't waste time trying to salvage something that doesn't make sense in this new world.

For my real estate brokerage, our first mini version of this was to go totally virtual when the initial stay at home order was issued. Video tours, virtual showings, zoom meetings with my agents, etc. But that's obvious. That's something everyone started doing. What is our long term adaptation? My (very unpopular) opinion (which is backed by facts that no one wants to see) is we are entering another housing crisis. It won't happen right away, but it will happen, so we are making moves now to set ourselves up for success when it does. I'm not openly sharing all of that, but if you're curious, just reach out, I'm happy to talk in private about what we're up to. I know the moves we're making now will ensure our long term success regardless of what the new normal brings. I also know, if it's not quite what we expect, we are prepared to pivot on a dime and adjust as needed. 98% of that is your attitude. It's not the plans you make or processes you put in place. Those are important, but not nearly as important as being open and willing to adjust and make moves and let go of the past in an instant.

That is an important note for non-crisis times too as you are building from the ground up. Nothing goes as planned. Anyone who says you can take your side hustle to a full time gig in 5 easy steps is full of shit. If you are truly in this for the long haul and working to build your legacy, the ability to pivot and adjust without whining, crying and complaining is crucial.

OVERCOME

OK, so I kind of got distracted during this part of the webinar so I'm not really sure what Alex had to say, but my version of this is pretty simple, just do the damn thing! Figure out what needs to be done and do it. Stop thinking about it, stop complaining that it's not what you thought it would be or what it once was. Figure out where you are able to add value to the world around you, and do it. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be pretty just DO SOMETHING. Get into motion and learn as you go. If you have been a small shop on Etsy and your next step was building your own website, and it's 85% there, hit the publish button. It's never going to be perfect, and you're never going to know what isn't perfect until you put it out there. While you sit and wait and worry, there are people who need what you have to offer and they aren't getting it.

Put the processes in place that you need, commit to your vision and go. It's not easy, it's not quick, but when you know where you are going and what you need to get there, then all that's left is to simply do it.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or unsure of where to go right now, please reach out. If you have 500 employees, I'm not your girl, I don't know what to do with that. But if you are a start up, a creative who doesn't totally understand the business side of things, or you just have a lot of ideas that you aren't sure what to do with, I can help. Also, anything real estate related is definitely my jam. There is HUGE opportunity right now if you know where to look.