This Too Shall Pass

I walked into our new office. It was a Tuesday morning and almost 8 months since I had left a media sales job to start my own advertising agency. My business partner was already there and watching the news on the television we had set up to keep an eye on our local advertising. “Have you seen this?” he said. It was at that time the second plane flew into the tower. . . and everything else in the world stopped.

Eight years later, I was sitting in the conference room of a new office building. I was now on my own and had made the decision a couple of years prior to be an owner instead of a renter. Of course there were risks, but business was good. I was the only person there that day. I remember it well. The rain was pounding down on the roof. All the lights were off. The phones were not ringing. It was New Year’s Day 2009 and I had some decisions to make.

The crisis started the year previous but it didn’t really hit us until the end of that year. The economy came to a halt. Businesses stopped spending. I lost a tenant. It was at that moment that I made the decision that I was not going to let this crisis defeat me. I would stay the course and push through. I decided to do the one thing I could control and started working harder on my own business.

As most small business owners know, we spend so much energy and effort working for our clients and customers that we often neglect our own business. The Cobbler’s children have no shoes, right?.

So, let this be a reminder from someone who has been through situations like this before. . now is the time to get ready for the future! You can’t control what is happening now, but you can control how you react to it. If you have the time, spend it on your own business right now. Set some new goals. Freshen up your image. Work on your messaging. Check your reputation online. Build a new sales funnel. Create some video content for social media. Start on blog. Focus on you!

For this too shall pass. So start getting ready for great things to come on the other side. The ones who work hard now, to create a better version of themselves in the future, will ultimately win.

As always, we are here to help!

Scott