Last week I expanded on Peters (1991) being able to make changes as needed within his business ventures. I am picking back up with this blog post with Chapters 29-35 of the book, O My Soul by, by Tom Peters. The Chapters this week cover the difficult times. Peters (1991) shares what happened to him when he was accused of a crime. He plead not guilty, yet he was forced to go through the arduous criminal process that can consume and take over one’s life right out of the blue for years. After accomplishing so much in twenty years of business ventures that he truly believed in, Peters was blinded by accusations he had no way of knowing were coming.
These chapters bring to mind the point that life can and often will throw you a punch that you are not expecting. What can we do if life throws us a curve ball? Peters (1991) fell back on his roots, his deep religious beliefs, that had brought him through many trials and afflictions throughout his life. He found that there were still people that supported him, including his wife, family, friends, and associates. When the storm was raging, he did his best to stick to his foundation.
It is important for business owners to have emergency contingency plans in case of unforeseen circumstances. Often we are blindsided by what we would never imagine could happen to us. What do you do if you have to completely start over? I have this personal advice for you:
Stay calm.
Take a look at what you DO have left.
Decide what you can do with what you have left.
If what you have left no longer supports your current trajectory, consider what new trajectory you can pursue.
Realize that sometimes no outside help will be coming, be a part of your own rescue.
Believe that you can rebuild.
Start over and rebuild.
Many successful business owners have lost everything more than once. There is nothing wrong with starting over. If you have to start over, then do it!
For further advice check out the following links to articles that will help your business start over.
The Next 5 Things You Should do After a Business Failure
Reinventing Yourself: Life After a Business Failure
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281251
References:
Peters, T. (1991). O my soul: The inside story. Elyria, OH: Betterpubpress.
Kay,
I appreciate the advice given from your reading this week. Stay calm and rebuild! Sounds like a battle cry to me. It takes a lot of faith to continue on and rebuild after a failure, but persistence seems to be key. I have heard similar stories of entrepreneurs taking the risk to rebuild even when others claimed something was”dead” and couldn’t be saved. Hard work and the continuous drive to want to improve a community or business takes a certain characteristic in an entrepreneur to dig deep and find that “diamond in the rough.” It might take a thousand tries, but entrepreneurs tend to have the mindset to keep pushing through hard times which leads to success. Thank you for the continued motivation in your posts!
– Paul
Kay,
Your posts are always so inspirational. The concept of having contingency plans in place is something I am very familiar, given its widespread use in the aviation industry. Planning and preparing for the unexpected is front and center in my day to day job, since our goal is keep the airport running or bring it back to normal operations as soon as possible. Sometimes this is extremely difficult, but the idea is to always keep in mind the resources you have at hand and to deploy them in the most effective way. This holistic thinking approach has allowed me to thrive during some difficult and stressful situation such as aircraft accidents and security threats. Once you embrace this mentality of preparedness, it is difficult to imagine how you functioned all those other prior year. I think everyone need a little… or a lot of planning in order to succeed during difficult times.
Great post Kay!
-Jose F. Saavedra
“Realize that sometimes no outside help will be coming, be a part of your own rescue.”
You always give the best advice! I enjoyed this post very much, but that particular sentence really struck me. Oh, how very true that statement is. Sometimes, you do have to be your own hero. I learned that the hard way. I also learned I am a lot stronger that I once thought I was, because I learned how to clean up my own messes and even the messes that were not my fault. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Jennifer