Higher Ground
Bella, our less notorious yet just as eminent dog, has a habit of finding her way towards “higher ground.” Bella correctly believes that by leaping atop a loveseat, couch, or chair, that her view of what is going on around her is significantly improved.
For Bella, this search for higher ground is normally to determine if food is involved, or if the yard has been invaded by rabbits. This strategy works very well for her, and although she more resembles a cat when doing this, she knows that the higher ground offers her a distinct advantage.
Being perched at “higher ground” is also very important for us as entrepreneurs, especially during a storm of the magnitude we are currently facing.
It can become easy to get mired in the day to day – or during some days – the hour to hour of a day. There are so many issues to be dealt with: loans for government assistance, cash flow challenges, employee issues, inventory control, and the uncertainty of what the next day and week will hold. There is an increased isolation, even when a few others are around. All of this recurring fight, flight, or freeze keeps us down on the “ground” and grinding out days with no real strategic plan for recovery.
Bella has the concept right. Get to higher ground and elevate thinking.
For entrepreneurs, elevated thinking means this:
Taking a 35,000 foot level approach to revenue growth. What products or services will you not be able to sell for the rest of 2020? Conversely, what are you doing now that could become a virtual offering? What is not going to fail to sell when the economy begins the recovery phase? Do you have the right inventory and staffing plans for then, as opposed to now?
Taking a 35,000 foot level approach to marketing and message. What do you want your clients and customers to hear from you? What stories, what values, what goals to help them improve their conditions do you want them to read or hear? What must you do to create and prepare those messages?
And finally, what 35,000 food level view do you need of your mindset? Not only yours, but those of your employees. This has – and continues to be a – wearing time mentally and physically to morale. What message of mindset must you create for yourself and those in your company? My two cents: avoid politics and pessimism. Focus on opportunities and growth. This isn’t the 1920s; it’s the 2020s. We have the ability to create revenue and opportunity that wasn’t conceivable 100 years ago when the financial collapse led to a decade plus Great Depression. We have the tools and the talent. Let’s make sure our minds are prepared to take advantage of them.
Believe me, I’m not asking you to avoid the ground work. It should take the majority of your time. What I am suggesting is that you should invest an hour a day leaping on top of the couch like Bella does to identify opportunities and threats; analyze impact of decisions; gain control of what you can; create strategic partnerships with supply chain, investors, and financing; and begin the move forward now. You control it. Be ready to take that higher ground.
Be unleashed and be well.
Quote of the Day:
“You may delay, but time will not.“
~ Benjamin Franklin
I can help you with strategic planning and implementation. I’ve got plans and programs that offer monthly and deferred payments during this time. I can help you make decisions to increase your ability to generate revenue and enhance protection for your business and loved ones. Call me at (360) 271-1592 or email me. Let’s just talk. No obligation. This is my area of expertise. I am ready to help…
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