You don’t need me to tell you that it’s tough out there
You don’t need me to tell you that it’s tough out there. Really tough. There’s very few business owners that I’ve spoken to in the last few months that haven’t had to tighten belts, put their heads down and work harder than ever before – myself included.
In fact I was speaking to one of my clients the other day and they said that they’re actually avoiding some self employed people as they are so down about their business it’s depressing. While that maybe a bit of a harsh thing to say, I must admit I had to agree with them.
So what is it that make some people bright and breezy whatever life throws at them or their business and others seem to crumple under pressure? I’m definitely not going to pretend I know the inner most workings of the human mind, I don’t. But there is a common trend which is becoming more obvious as times get tougher.
Positiveness. Simple really. Those people whose businesses seem to be doing well are generally really positive individuals. Their glasses are always half full and whenever you ask them how they are they reply ‘Fantastic. How are you?’
I love these people. I love the fact that even when they’ve just been served the biggest swerve ball out there, they look for the silver lining. And what’s becoming even more apparent is that they always find it. They may get a little down for a time but they soon shake themselves out of it and bounce back brighter and bolder than ever before. They see tough times as an opportunity to improve what they do, to give their customers even better service that before and come up with new ideas for products and services.
These people are my inspiration, my hero’s if you like. Whenever I’m feeling a bit despondent when business isn’t going quite the way I want it to I think of these people and ask myself ‘What would they do?’ Then I smile and think ‘They would look for the silver lining.’ And you know what – it works. Everytime.
The silver lining doesn’t have to be life-changing, you just need to find it. For example when I broke my foot only a few weeks ago and was unable to drive, the silver lining was that I got to see much more of my lovely dad and my handsome son as they both offered to drive me too and from work every day. I also toned up my upper arms from using the crutches – certainly a happy bonus. The silver lining grew to include giving me more time to focus on my business, look carefully at how I could help my customers and what new services could I provide.
The result is that I’m launching a whole new series of marketing workshops in 2012 and judging by the feedback I’ve already received it’s promising to be the best silver lining yet.