"Help, My Business Is Dying!"

At Death’s Door

“My business is dying!” It’s a phrase I’m hearing far too often lately. If a business isn’t dying, it’s collapsing, imploding… the team feels like they’re drowning. It seems like it’s never good news.

Lately, we are reading articles about failed business, after failed business all around the world, across the country, in our cities, and towns. Few, if any, of these recent failures were caused by poor business decisions or reckless spending. None of these failures were the fault of the business owner, yet their businesses are collapsing around them due to the impact of the pandemic. Like it or not, this is the reality we are in.

Okay, you're dealing with the impending death of your business, so how do you stop the bleeding? How do you save it? What do you do to stay alive?

I Feel Your Pain, It’s Mine Too

I know firsthand the pain of seeing contraction in business. When the pandemic began things looked okay. And then, quickly, they started looking much less okay. Sales started to slump, recurring revenue started to shrink and clients started to panic. They jumped ship like mice.

When catastrophic change impacts your business you have two choices: allow your business to die or adjust the way you operate your business. I choose the latter.

The first thing you have to do as a business owner in a crisis is to get your head right.

That means you stop focusing on the worst-case scenario, that’s a death spiral just waiting to happen. I mean, you have to stop and take a deep breath and not panic, because the worst decisions are made in moments of panic. That’s when your judgment is clouded by fear and your reptilian brain takes over and your rational thinking goes out the window. Name one good decision that was made during a time of fear. It's almost impossible.

So what do you do, how do you adjust how do you make decisions that empower you to save your business, or even course-correct your business so that growth begins again?

Think And Grow Rich… Or Die!

It starts with your thought process. If you are thinking about your impending doom and failure…guess what, you're going to fail. Your business is already doomed. You should just close up shop early and stop the hemorrhaging now, the quicker you exit the less money you'll burn.

But, if you start looking at the possibilities, if you start seeking opportunities, if you think out of the box, and figure out ways that you can offer more value, new services, better offerings, reengage your customers. Find the opportunities to grow and to overcome obstacles. And yes, cheating death is very possible, even in today's economic environment.

Too many people are wrapped up in the drama of what's going on. They're spending their days and their energy on watching TV news or headline surfing instead of focusing on the real prize, their own minds… and ultimately, their businesses.

You have a simple choice to make. Either let your business die or take the bull by the horns and wrangle that sucker and ride it hard. The choice is yours, I hope I don't get an invitation to the funeral.