Business isn’t easy. It’s a road filled with adversity. You’re faced with new challenges every day and it can often seem like you’re just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. When it comes to business, two minds really are better than one. It helps to receive advice from people who’ve been there, done that.
Below thought leaders share the tips they personally use to overcome adversity.
Accept That Adversity Is Normal
Lean into it. Secondly, believe that is temporary. If those two things are done regularly it quiets the cortisol and adrenaline and allows the brain to function better leading to sound decision making and clarity about options.
Mike Staver, The Staver Group
Surround Yourself With Cheerleaders
We all face times that are difficult in business and our personal lives. When we face struggles, we often share them with the people closest to us. How that person observes the world can either make us or break us. I have been intentional to weed out negative people in my life and surround myself with people who can first listen and then guide me positively towards a solution or offer a different perspective.
Rebecca Longawa, Halong Esports
Practice Empathy
Become empathetic towards your own employees and clients alike. Understand what makes them tick and how you can communicate effectively to make sure they understand. In marketing, you have to prove to your client that what you are doing is working and sometimes the message is not completely understood by the other person. Learn how they see business and explain it to them in such a way to help optimize your plan to get them on board.
Jessica Montenegro, Marketing Specialist
Improve Your Management
The most important factor in managing adversity is the quality of the management team. A high-performing team communicates well internally and is accustomed to adapting to changing environments. We are working now to adapt to the volatile environment around the COVID-19 pandemic. I am incredibly proud of the way that our management keeps finding ways to adapt to changing circumstances. We stay focused on providing critical services to our patients which allows us to prioritize our efforts.
Dan Reck, MATClinics
Be Flexible
I’ve found that the key to managing adversity is to accept that it’ll never go away and to be flexible. There are infinite variables that impact your business day-to-day: employee behavior, changes in the supply chain, environmental factors, the economy…. The only thing we can be sure about is that change is inevitable.
So I don’t get hung up on expectations of how something is “supposed” to go. Instead, I plan as best I can, and when something unforeseen comes up (happens ALL the time), I roll with it. You can call it a pivot, I call it rolling with the punches. Having a positive attitude towards flexibility has led to some of our most successful endeavors at Jigsaw Health.
Patrick Sullivan Jr., Jigsaw Health
Opportunity Hides in the Clouds of Chaos
For me, it is all about remembering that opportunity hides in the cloud of chaos, and any time spent wringing hands and moping is time that could be well spent searching for the unmet need you could serve. For me, in the time of COVID-19, that has meant quickly developing a robust remote workshop capability that can help people who can no longer meet face to face. To twist the proverb a bit, adversity can be the mother of new business, if we open the aperture, tap into our own creativity, and don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume a fetal position until the storm passes.
Dennis Skinner, Many-To-One
No Failure Only Feedback
There is no failure, only feedback. Everything is a feedback loop and it is liberating to know that with enough commitment, you’ll get everything right EVENTUALLY.
Lukas Ruebbelke, BrieBug
Mindset and Maximum Effort
My family has owned a company for 40 years. While I was their COO, the difference between success and failure always centered on those two things- mindset and maximum effort. Both of which you can fully control.
Nick Herrera, Marketing 360
Practice Attentive Listening
We are a nonprofit adoption agency serving pregnant women in Texas and adoptive families in almost every state. When life gets scary and stressful, it is important to listen carefully. In our line of work, our Adoption Specialists are able to care for any birth mother going through an unplanned pregnancy by carefully listening to the wants and needs of each mother. From there, we can design an adoption plan specifically for them that connects a birth mother with a loving family for their baby. Through attentive listening, we can turn an otherwise tricky situation into a beautiful experience for both the birth mother and the adoptive family.
Kenna Hamm, Texas Adoption Center
Look for the Lesson
What is this teaching me? When life goes off-script, it’s easy to blame others, feel anger, and try to control more. Replace “Why is this happening to me?” with “What is this teaching me?” and see how your perspective shifts. For years, I’ve kept a daily journal helping me identify patterns of when I gave my power away. When I began recognizing what I was being taught, my emotions balanced, my knowledge increased, and I got into a flow where important doors opened.
Michael S. Seaver, Seaver Consulting, LLC
Find the Silver Lining
With every adversity is the seed of equivalent benefit. When I first started my business, my car broke down and I didn’t have any money to fix it. I kept saying this to myself over and over again. Then I came up with the idea to trade my services for car repairs. It was my first sale and they became longtime customers.
Rick Barrera, Rick Barrera and Associates, Inc.
Focus Your Attention
When we first started our practice many years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for us to drive hundreds of miles in a single day to defend new clients. We learned our lesson. We now concentrate on cases close to home. And when we’re on the brink of having too many cases at one time, we start referring cases out to trusted colleagues. This provides us with the opportunity to provide each and every one of our clients a lot of individual attention.
Court Will, Will & Will
It’ll Pass
My top tip for dealing with adversity is reminding myself that everything passes. It helps me stay positive in every situation.
Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional
Don’t Lose Sight of the Mission
The outlook may be glum. But, it doesn’t change what you are looking to accomplish. The only thing that changes is that you may need to get more creative in how you accomplish that mission. I look to overcome adversity by realizing that what I’m doing is important. If not me, then who?
Brett Farmiloe, Markitors