"From daily challenges to total disaster, you can use
any situation as an opportunity for transformation."
The Power of Turning Points
Any person with goals and ambitions is going to face some obstacles and setbacks. Frustration is a natural reaction when this happens. But frustration is just one possible response. In these challenging moments, some entrepreneurs find the resources within themselves to make major changes in their businesses and their lives. They use these turning points as the opportunity to ask, "If I could do this all over again, what would I do?"
Here are a few situations our clients have faced, which might understandably have kept them from moving forward:
A brother and sister running a family meat-packing business watched 80 years of history get washed away by Hurricane Katrina.
An entrepreneur went on holidays, and while she was away, her business partner quit.
A financial advisor developed a model to revolutionize care for those with special needs. Then her compliance department declared, "You can't do that."
Don't Let Goals Get in the Way
Winston Churchill said, "Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential." In other words, you don't want your goals to get in the way of your success.
Having to adapt to circumstances shouldn't be viewed as failure; in fact, it's the ability to adapt that removes any lingering feelings of frustration around the way things were supposed to be. The entrepreneurs mentioned above, for example, didn't just make up for their losses, they took the opportunity to reinvent themselves, and actually went on to do more and to be better:
The brother and sister rebuilt their family business from scratch. This gave them the opportunity to explore new markets, and to build the new, larger facilities they'd been thinking about for years. This took them from utter ruin to being more successful than ever.
The entrepreneur whose business partner quit was saved by her own preparation: For some time, she'd been building her team, taking holidays and empowering her team members to be in charge while she was away. When she returned from this holiday, she discovered that her team had repackaged the business around her, and had even ordered new letterhead and a new sign.
The financial advisor saw so much proof that her idea was viable, valuable, and necessary that she ultimately surrendered her licenses and has created a groundbreaking service for taking total care of clients with special needs and their families. Due to this innovation and dedication, she has created an enormously successful business that's spreading across the country.
How Did They Do It?
The frustration of unforeseen obstacles makes it even more important to be focused and strategic. This always starts with facing the situation head-on and telling the truth. Taking inventory helps you imagine other possibilities, asking questions like:
What was working before this happened?
What wasn't working?
What result am I really committed
to creating here?
At the same time, you have an opportunity to be more useful by asking questions about your clients and customers, such as:
What dangers are my clients and customers facing because of this?
How can I alleviate those problems?
What is possible now that wasnt before?
What do I do that others value? (Not "What do I sell?," but "What do I do?")
When you take this approach, your frustration and confusion can transform into excitement, energy and confidence.
Of course, you have no control over the outside events that will affect your business and your life. When you're free of the idea that you can and should be able to control outside events, you can focus in on where you actually have total control: your creative response to these events. This will keep you moving toward a bigger future — no matter what happens. |
