"All of us experience fear, but when we confront it and acknowledge it, we are able to turn it into courage. Being courageous does not mean never being scared; it means acting as you know you must even though your are undeniably afraid." Rev. Desmond Tutu.
"It's times like the ones you're facing today that force us to try harder and dig deeper. Times like these move us to find the greatness we each have inside, and in doing so, rediscover the greatness that defines us as a nation." A message to the Class of 2010 by President Barak Obama.
In the best of times, being in business for yourself is a tough proposition. For small and medium sized businesses, this is especially true, because the government is not going to rush to prop them up because they are "too small to fail." Any one of a thousand eventualities can sink a small business... undercapitalization, poor management, poor cash flow or, as we have experienced lately, a really serious economic downturn. And now, even working for someone else has become an equally uncertain thing. So almost all of us in the working world are living with an underlying sense of fear.
On one hand, we can allow fear to unhinge us or paralyze us. We can choose to live with the status quo and stay exactly where we are, until we can determine which way the wind is blowing. That may translate into keeping a job we find very unsatisfying, until things get more stable. A steady check....not a bad thing to have these days. Or if we are in business for ourselves, running our operations in a very careful, conservative way until the credit crunch eases up. Fear can lead us to the conclusion that what makes the most sense is to close the doors of our our business and go to work for someone else. In the worst possible scenario, we can just give up. That is one way to respond.
But there is a better way to deal with this debilitating feeling we are experiencing. We can confront our fears.We can overcome our fear of moving forward and of what comes next. Anyone who has studied the history of business knows that the worst of economic times are periods of tremendous opportunities. We are forced to leave our safe comfort zones of thinking, because what we experience within our comfort zone is no more certain and secure than what exists outside of our comfort zone. So, we have nothing to lose by exploring what other opportunities exist out there in the business world. What we do not realize is that even in the good times, we also harbor a fear of leaving something that is sure and certain, even if the job or profession we are in did not challenge us or make us happy.
Seeing the business from this angle, forces us to realize that the economic situation today is not worse or better...just different than the one that existed before November 2009. It is really unproductive to let fear paralyze us or force us to make pressured choices out of fear of what might be coming next. Now, each of us has to make a reasoned, measured decision about what we are going to do about our own particular situation.
In fact, the best outcome might just be that we can use this underlying fear to energize us and inspire us to do bigger and better things. Anymore a lot of us have little to lose and everything to gain. Overcoming this fear can be downright liberating. That is not to say that this sense of foreboding will every entirely go away. It will always be there in the shadows. But once we have risen above it, our mindset begins to see great new possibilities in terms of new ventures, new careers or product development, that we did not allow ourselves to even consider previously.
Hailing back to an earlier time, we should seriously revisit the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1945.
"The only limit to the realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." Folks, all of us are going to survive even the things that are going on in this business climate. We cannot afford to give into fear and doubt. Even if we have moments of abject panic..of feeling that we have little or no hope for a better future, we have to force ourselves to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, until we reach the point that we have a better sense of what comes next. Again, FDR provides us with the words to sustain us: "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and just hang on."
Howard Fireman
Productivity Consultant
howard.fireman46@gmail.com
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NEWS YOU CAN USE: MAY 28, 2010
How to Develop a Strong Value Proposition
A strong and differentiated Value Proposition can go a long way to position your business to succeed in your target market. Here are some pointers on how to develop a strong Value Proposition for your business. (Courtesy of BizNik)
http://biznik.com/articles/how-to-develop-a-strong-value-proposition?utm_source=articles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2010-05-26
Twenty Pathways to More Prospects
Do you need more clients, but you are not sure how to find them? Utilize a few of the strategies in this marketing interview effectively , and you'll be on the path to as many prospects as you need. (Courtesy of Biznik)
http://biznik.com/articles/twenty-pathways-to-more-prospects?utm_source=articles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2010-05-26
LinkedIn Direct Ads Vs. Google Adwords: Which one is better?
This article contains the results of a recent experiment I did to determine whether a LinkedIn Ad would perform any better than an identical Google AdWords ad. My conclusion was that neither was worth the time or money. (Courtesy of BizNik)
http://biznik.com/articles/linkedin-direct-ads-vs-google-adwords-which-one-is-better?utm_source=articles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2010-05-26
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