Resilience in Business
You’ve got a great Business idea, you’ve been diligently working away on your Business plan and the numbers are stacking up. You’ve identified your perfect customer, researched your competitors and have your eye on the perfect location. Your website is looking awesome and you’ve got your Instagram account and YouTube channel ready to go. Even the Bank Manager seemed impressed with your ideas and plans. You are looking very, very good!
Oh the excitement!
I know how excited you are – I can feel it. This Business is going to change your life.
Time to kiss the Boss goodbye and set sail into the wonderful world of Business ownership….
Well, at the risk of sounding like that really annoying little voice in your head always trying to burst your bubble, might I suggest be one other little thing to consider first…maybe?
You know how you can sometimes feel overwhelmed when things are getting a bit tough at work or how sometimes you get a little too angry when things don’t work out? Or that horrible feeling of helplessness that comes over you from time to time or those rare days when you don’t want to give the task at hand your all? And you know how, when one of these moods grips you, it can take you a while to get up and going again?
What I’m talking about here is “Resilience” – sometimes defined as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.
Honesty is the key
Whilst all of the items I mentioned at the beginning of this article are really important when in the process of establishing your own Business, if I could give you one piece of advice it would be to have an honest discussion with yourself about how good you are at getting back on your feet when something goes wrong. If the answer is “not so good” then at least you will know your starting point. And remember, there’s nothing to be ashamed of here – we’re all human and have our frailties.
If you know that your resilience is low you can take steps to improve or assemble others around you who can lend support.
You will be tested
It is undeniable that owning a Business is going to test you. Every successful Business owner I know has been “kicked in the guts” multiple times whilst building their Business. Whether that is missing out on a tender opportunity, losing a big Customer, the departure of a key staff member or a myriad of other things – it’s going to happen. Often.
Resilience is essential in business
Resilience isn’t just a “nice to have” when you are considering whether you should leap into the world of Business ownership – it’s an essential. Without it, your chances of long-term success are dramatically reduced.
Whilst there are lots of ways to build resilience (there are some good ideas here https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience), one little question played an important role in helping me to improve mine.
What is the worst thing that can happen?
Whenever something went wrong in my Business I would ask myself one simple question – “what is the worst thing that can happen?” You know what, most of the time the answer wasn’t as bad or scary as it seemed when the negative event happened.
The result? I got up and got back to Business – one day at a time.