Post by Kristy Straka, contributing Women On Business writer
Are you a business woman who is feeling desperate during the economical crunch? Are your funds limiting your business choices? Is business down? Are you doing the same thing but expecting different results?
Oftentimes, when times get desperate, we feel desperate. We think that desperate times call for desperate measures because this is what we’ve always been told. This is a negative and stressful cliché. If we feel desperate, we become desperate. If we become depressed, we become non-functional. Alleviate your stress and get creative.
I believe that desperate times call for creative thinking. It is important to keep your mind moving forward one day at a time. Don’t think of a month from now or two months from now, just handle what you can handle today. Make a to-do list, and put the worst task you have to handle at the top of the list — do it first!
Once your most dreaded task it out of the way, you can breathe and handle the rest of your day with ease. If you don’t tackle the dreaded task first, it will haunt your mind all day long. By the end of the day, you will move it to the list you make for the next day, and eventually you will lose sleep over it.
Because you are a business woman, you have already taken a risk. You took a risk to go into business for yourself. Your friends and family might have even said, “you’re crazy, it’ll never work”, but you did it anyway. You took the first step towards your dream.
The other day, a prominent dentist I know told me what his in-laws said when he opened a dental practice fresh out of dental school. They told him that he shouldn’t do it and he would fail. It was his dream and he did it anyway. He completely paid off his dental practice in four months, has been in business for thirty years, and is very successful. He continued to tell me that if he failed today, his in-laws would still say, “I told you that you would fail!”
Do you still believe in yourself? Do you believe that your business is viable? If you answer yes to these questions and want to ride out the economical waves then ask yourself, “what else have I learned from being in business?” List them on a piece of paper, and put your alternative talents to use to generate income and keep your mind active. Meet knew people in different professions, attend seminars, and think outside the box.
I am creating additional revenue outside the scope of our business while we wait for economical recovery. I first streamlined our business so we can offer our business licenses for sale online. We don’t need a facility, we don’t need equipment or supplies, and we can fluctuate with the economy as much as we need to.
Once this was complete, I wrote down everything that I have learned over the years and took a good look at what services I could offer others. I was actually amazed at how much I really do have to contribute to the business world!
I started networking, going to seminars, being invited to speak to groups, and am now starting to build web-pages, develop training courses for companies, develop business plans and profit projections for women wanting to go into business. I am helping future entrepreneurs build their infrastructure for a fraction of the cost that CPA’s, Attorneys, and large web design companies charge while keeping myself in forward motion.
The services that I now offer will help new people who want to go into business for themselves. I offer creative suggestions and get them thinking of additional ways to generate their own income until they have a revenue stream. Diversifying is important!
Once you put a new plan into motion, you tap into an entirely different array of people. We all learn something from one another. It doesn’t matter what type of business they own, it matters that we all face similar experiences being self employed. Some people have great solutions to our problems, but if we never meet them then we will never have other opinions to ponder. It is important to stay involved and not be alone.
I believe in having a Plan B ready both in life and in business. If plan B is ready and I tap into it then I start creating plan C. Creative business minds are what drive this country, and creative female minds can travel unlimited miles, go in different directions, and multi-solve.
Women have been multi-tasking for years. We juggle family, school, daycare, house cleaning, and business. Whether we are homemakers, work at home, work for someone, or are self-employed, we multi-task. Business is no different. We must multi-task, multi-solve, and multi-create.
If your business is struggling and you are planning for its recovery then you need to ask yourself, “What is my plan B?” “What is my plan C?” Put on your thinking cap. Dig deep within yourself. Find your hidden talents, and capitalize on them.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored ten books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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