Business Owners are singing, "There's got to be a morning after..."

I wanted to share my 52 to a Better You article for this week, here for all of the wonderful business owners I know who are struggling with not only the financial downturn caused by having the doors of their businesses slammed shut, but are also struggling with thoughts of defeat and doubt.

You may remember the movie back in the seventies about the tragic sinking of the titanic. The theme song was, "There's got to be a Morning After". It is true and as devastating as this situation is for all small businesses, the message I have for all business owners is that with the right mindset, you will have a better business with a better tomorrow. But, we must take this time and make it our opportunity to grow and not say "no" to our dreams.

Get your dream back, keep dreaming your dream if it’s succeeding, 

or dream a new dream, but keep dreaming forward with action. 

Ter Scott, Life & Legacy Coach™

Regardless whether you’ve chosen to start your 52 week journey with this week’s assignment or you’ve been following right along from the first week until now, know this; you are at the right place at the right time with the right people.

As T.H.E. Life & Legacy Coach™ I coach the person first and then the “business person” as having a business is the outgrowth of one’s dreams. Not all people are business owners and when I coach them they naturally become better at whatever their desires and destinies are. So when I speak this week directing my thoughts to the “business person” who owns and operates a “business” you can substitute whatever it is that you do as an “artist” offering your “art”, as a “teacher” “teaching” etc.

I’m addressing business owners this week because at the time of this writing businesses have been shut down by the governments of many countries (I’m writing this in the USA) due to a virus which is going around and everyone is practicing “social distancing” and only the “essential” businesses are open or others only with minimal hours. My dream is that you are reading this sometime in the future with this virus episode far in the past with businesses open and thriving better than ever with a country and a world wiser and better for having endured and coming through it.

I want to congratulate you, the reader in advance for reading this. I know that some are literally beside themselves, afraid, scared, and upset about everything and the world. I know it is hard. It is hard to read these words or listen to the truth of your own thoughts (and dismiss the lies) and to determine your obstacles and discover your destiny.

For this week (during this writing and for any reader anytime in the future going through the 52 Week assignments) I will address how to get your dream back, keep dreaming, and dream a new dream.

Over the years I’ve lived through many downturns in the economy where “weaker” businesses did not “make it” and only the strong survived. One of the biggest which people may remember was the real estate boom where contractors and home builders were out of work almost overnight it seemed. There were recessions where many people with “can do” attitudes chose “not to participate”. And sometimes there are events so large which even the most positive minded individual has to the power of laser like focus to only the positive expectations of the future.

What we think about comes about.

It’s easy to complain and point fingers at ourselves or others when things are not going well or to our well made plans. Sometimes our plan is to get up in the morning and open the door of our businesses to employ people and serve people and then come home at night to enjoy the lifestyle we’ve created for our family. To do this for years without too much hassle or too many waves is the ideal but anyone in business for any length of time knows this to be fantasy-land. And that is part of the challenge of running a business and the reward is coming up with the solution and “winning” as a business owner. It is not just the profit or the routine I just described; any other would be as unrewarding as going from home to work and work to home five days a week and having too much month at the end of the paycheck. Business owners expect challenges and they “eat” them for breakfast. (If you are a reader who is an artist, contractor, musician, actor, and accountant and make your income any other way, I hope you are getting something from this).

But sometimes the challenges are way beyond the usual or even larger than life; they are so devastating that the business closes or has to go “dormant” and hand on until the storm is over. An economical tidal wave hits a country and brings it to its knees and the tapestry of each business and each consumer supporting all businesses starts to unravel. This is the time when a business owner must allow the business, with all the safe guards put in place, to take the hits and survive or not and to focus on the health, mind and spirit of the business owner.

Take care of the business owner 

and the business will succeed. 

Ter Scott, Life & Legacy Coach™

Our bodies have a mechanism which we cannot avoid. If we do not care and nourish it with food and rest without tight schedules, stress and inattention, it will put us in bed forcing us to get rest, eat and get the necessary attention. The same applies to our business. When we run a business without having an emergency fund (like we should for our family; usually 3 months) and are running the business from event to event, holiday to holiday; as an employee would “live from paycheck to paycheck” we will have a very tough time weathering any economic storm. As a “vendor” calling on business owners I have been met with statements like these “We’ve already spent our marketing budget for the year” (I felt embarrassed for the owner who was either lying or inept because this was in January or February), “Come back after (insert major community event or holiday) when we’ll have money”, or sadly “Our equipment broke down expectantly and we are paying on that”.

I’m not going to “beat” anyone up about this here because having an emergency fund or having a “system” at all (usually called a “Business Plan” and “Marketing Plan” instead of the usual “Seat of the Pants Plan” or “As Things Happen” or “Putting Out Fires Plan”) is easier said than done.

Other areas in which a business requires attention is both marketing; in which many businesses “don’t have time for” as they start to succeed with demands placed on their time and to be employee and customer centered. Running a business is hampered and as I said, “challenged” by all of this and continued burdensome government regulations.

There is more that we could talk about but my point is that there are so many things which business owners do each day to be able to keep their doors open. When a government is closing your doors due to regulations during “business as usual” or a global pandemic dictates that you and your business be socially responsible and close those doors, this is a time to get your dream back, continue to dream and “tweak” that dream to make it stronger, or dream a new dream.

Mr., Mrs., or Ms. Business Owner please think back to when you had a dream to start or acquire a business. For some readers this has been many years ago; for others it may have been just last year. You had so many thoughts and things you wanted to make happen, and you did. So congratulate yourself for doing so. Regardless of whether you had a weak or strong business, some things can disrupt any business. And when one does, we need to face the fact that we may be forced to close indefinitely, whether the storm and restart stronger for having gone through it or start a completely new enterprise; using all we’ve learned about ourselves, and business with all that goes with it.

Just as when our bodies are forced to recuperate with time off, proper rest and nourishment, we can use down times to learn the latest technology, learn a new skill, or maybe even about a new and exciting business. I’ve already mentioned how it seemed that we just didn’t have the time to learn new things or apply necessary tasks in our business when “life was good”, we may now learn that when we restart our dream or create a new one that a lesson we could learn is to setup “realistic” safeguards in our business to be more prepared for situations which arise.

The assignment which I present here should be used during normal business operation as normal routine but the advantage this, or any downturn affords you is that while other business owners are crying (literally) and some twiddling their thumbs bemoaning their fate and that of their business, smart entrepreneurs know that what they think about comes about and they are thinking and preparing for the first day of the rest of their business!

This week as you do these “assignments” visualize yourself as if you are “back in business”, either with your new and improved version of what you had or have in dormancy or an entirely new business; and be excited!

List three ways (or more) in how you will be “employee centered”.

List three ways (or more) in how you will be “customer centered”.

List three ways (or more) in how you will have a plan in place to protect yourself, your employees and even your customers for a financial downturn.  

If you appreciated this week’s lesson, continue forward and we continue for the entire 52 weeks. Share this with your friends. And finally, be sure to leave your questions and comments below. I read every one of them and usually reply to them within days. I’ve also included several products and services after this article which will help the business owner during this financial downturn and after you are again up and running; back to “business as usual”. Please take a moment to check them out; I believe you will be very glad that you did.

Now more than ever, small business needs to join other small business owners in their communities and all 50 states in our great union to support each other in fighting for the right to own and grow their business. You choose what you can afford as your yearly membership fee and in return you get your voice heard (really) at your state capital and in D.C. with NFIB fighting against harmful issues affecting your business. You get informed on what's happening before they become law; when you have the power to do something about it. If you would like more details, please use the contact form on this page or visit https://northwissmallbiz.blogspot.com/2020/03/national-small-business-group-urges.html.

Now is a crucial time for businesses to maintain cash flow. Before you get a loan or use any of your reserves I strongly encourage you to see what I and my team can do for you in finding hidden assets you and your company already have and just need to apply for. Our proprietary software does this in minutes, scanning hundreds of programs which are updated daily (sometimes hourly). If we find monies that you qualify for, we go to work for you and we take a small percentage of what we find. If we don't find you money, you don't pay but you'll never know until you put us and our team to work for you. Click on the image which takes you to our secured online search calculator. You can thank me later.

And please, don't think you have to have a large business to qualify. Most businesses get monies.