Since the pandemic took the UK by storm around this time last year, I have spoken to so many business owners on a monthly basis to see how things have been going. Whilst most businesses are unfortunately on a negative curve, some are doing relatively well.
Entrepreneurship is hard as it is without the added pressure of Covid-19 and Brexit, with one or the other (and sometimes both) dominating headlines since 2016. It’s tough out there, I know it is and, having worked in business recovery for so long, I am very much in the thick of the action but I am also a business owner myself so I feel the pain and speak from lived experiences.
This is why I want to reach out to as many business owners as possible and offer my humble “two pennies worth ” for how we should approach 2021.
Learn to give up control
Running a business can be like navigating through an obstacle course on a daily basis. You jump one and another rears its ugly head.
Most of the time, the obstacle is something outside of our control zone. For example, we have no control over how our clients behave, the economic circumstances in the UK (or in whichever country you operate from), changes in legislation and so on. Sometimes we suffer because we either try to control these things or let it hurt us more than it should.
Trying to control it is futile, it is literally impossible and when I talk about letting it hurt us, I mean more emotionally and mentally, rather than how it may hurt our cash flow.
So what can you do? Truth be told, we have no choice but to keep our head down and continue working hard, even if we don’t know if our efforts will lead to any fruitful outcome. I am not going to lie, for me, this can be exciting at times and keeps me sane in these insane times we live in.
I will always tell my team (and myself) to keep chugging away and to not worry too much about the trials and turbulence.
Many business owners appear to show a sense of optimism no matter what state there business is in.
Some will laugh at the challenges they are facing; they know that they have no control over the outcome in the end, but still carry-on day in day out with the confidence that if the business continues to its core activity, keeps focus and works hard then it will all work out.
Now I am not telling anyone to plug their fingers into their ear and continue ‘business as usual.’ We need to be aware of what’s happening around us. My point is to simply ‘let go’, to stop trying to let things not in your control debilitate you, because it clouds your judgement and stops you from getting on with the things that are in your control.
In reality, there are only a few aspects of the business you’re able to control and the rest (which leads me to my second message) is down to faith.
Have faith
What fuels mine and many other business owners’ mindsets as mentioned above is having faith.
For me, having my own business goes hand in hand with having faith. It would be impossible for me to operate in the seat of business owner, with all its uncontrollable elements, and still be confident in my ability to manage it without believing in a power outside myself.
For me, this power is God. Yet, for you, it does not have to be God but just a belief that there are forces in play not in your control nor in your vision that are working behind the scenes.
If you were to put 10 entrepreneurs in a room and ask them about things that happened in the face of failure that changed everything for the better for them and were completely unexpected, you will find each entrepreneur having a story of their own. In my opinion, how can these events be possible without the existence of some element or force that is outside of our control?
You can call it God, our guardian angel, our past good deeds that are now manifesting in good karma rescuing us in the last minute in movie-esque fashion or anything else, yet it is definitely something that is outside our control and occasionally logic-defying.
Now, I’m not saying put all your hope in a miracle happening in the last minute. You need to put the work and hours in every single day but having (what some would say) an unrealistic faith and unnecessary optimism that your business can survive is not a bad thing at all provided it’s not all that you’re relying on.
If money is the central score board of any business underneath all the passion, culture, and aspirations, then it makes sense that the world’s largest economy, at least currently, inscribes the words ‘In God We Trust’ on their currency. As the business grows, one can start connecting these dots, breadcrumbs left by our entrepreneurial predecessors, giving more hope and optimism to not just think, but know. Know that it will all work out in the end.
If you want to learn more about this topic, please call me on on 0330 236 9930, 0330 236 9938 or 07961 116321. The first conversation is free of charge and all conversations are in strict confidence. You can also email me on vee@navigatebr.com.
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