Strong and Flexible: How to Handle Setbacks in Business
This week’s episode of Renegade Breakthroughs came to you earlier than usual, and it came to you shorter than usual.
Let me explain. Late on the night before the show, we started getting text messages from the power company saying they planned to shut off our power sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours, and that it could stay off for several days!
So I recorded the show that morning, uploaded it while I still could, and let the system send it out on schedule whether I had electricity or not. That little decision is really the whole lesson of this episode, because it’s a lesson about how to handle setbacks in business when life decides to rearrange your plans for you.
A Week Where Everything Went Sideways
The power shutoff wasn’t the only thing. It had been one of those weeks! I had to cancel our guest and reschedule her, and she was very understanding about it. Someone who was supposed to interview me called at the last minute to say they had no internet, so that got pushed too. Even at the store, tap to pay failed three or four times before it finally went through!
And my hosting account went down for three full days. It was a problem on their side, and there was nothing I could do but stay on them until it was fixed. I’ll be honest with you, I was getting really frustrated. Three days and my websites are still dark? Then I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it’s not the end of the world, the sites would come back, and someone would figure out what the problem was. And sure enough, they did!
Then the power company started texting.
Why the Lights Were Going Out
Here’s the backstory, because it matters. Normally when they shut the power off around here, it’s because of wind, since wind knocks power lines down, downed lines throw sparks, and sparks start fires. Put fire together with wind, heat, and dry brush and you have a recipe for disaster!
We lived through that disaster in 2007. San Diego County lost an enormous number of homes in those wildfires. I remember driving up to the top of a mountain with my video camera on a tripod and turning it a full 360 degrees, and in every direction something was burning. It was insane! We were evacuated.
And that happened to be the week Dan Kennedy was scheduled to interview me, which I had planned to do from my studio on my good microphone. Instead I did it on a cordless handset from the landline. The content was still good, but it sure wasn’t the interview I had planned!
After the fires, the power company took the blame, the lawsuits followed, and in the years since, our electric rates have gone up and up. Now the response to any threat is simple. Turn the power off! We’ve had outages here that lasted five days because it was windy and warm. This time the forecast showed no wind at all, just heat, with highs of 100 to 108 degrees for the next week. I’d never seen them cut the power for heat alone, and last month 108 degrees wouldn’t have triggered anything. But it’s October now, and a new set of rules apparently comes with the new month.
Lesson One: Stay Strong, but Stay Flexible
I’ve been teaching this for a long time, and this week I got to live it. When a challenge hits, you have to stay strong, which simply means you decide, right up front, that you’re going to get through it. A few days without power is a challenge. It is NOT the end of the world!
But strong by itself isn’t enough, because you also have to be flexible. Something that’s too brittle breaks under pressure, while something that can bend survives the storm.
So what did flexing look like for me?
– I recorded the show early so it would go out even if I had no power.
– We watered the grove heavily ahead of time. The ag pumps pull water up from 500 feet down and push it up the side of a mountain, and they need a lot of electricity. With moisture in the soil, the trees have a better chance of riding it out.
– I charged the batteries, dusted off the generator, and planned a run for gasoline so it’s ready the minute the lights go out.
– I planned for the internet too, with a battery for the cellular booster so we might keep some kind of connection going.
Phoebe and I sat down and made a full list of what needed to happen, and I spent the day checking it off. If the power never goes out, and that’s happened before, we’re fine. If it does go out, we have a plan and we’ll get through it. Either way we’re okay!
The same thing helped me with the website outage, because I already had a backup plan in my pocket. If the host couldn’t get things running again, I knew exactly where I’d move the sites and how I’d rebuild them. Having that flex ready took a lot of the frustration out of it!
Lesson Two: Anger Doesn’t Fix Anything
Some people react to this kind of thing with anger. Why me? I’m just trying to live my life! And I understand that feeling. But I’ve lived long enough to know that life is going to get in the way of your best-laid plans. That is simply the way it is.
Some things are out of your hands, and I can’t tell the power company what to do. They may get a piece of my mind in a tweet, but that’s about the extent of my influence, because they’re going to do what they’re going to do.
So what does getting angry accomplish? It hurts you! There is nothing in your body that loves anger. Go ahead and be disappointed for a minute, let it out, and get it out of your system. Then go straight to the solution and ask yourself, what do I need to do next?
Lesson Three: Look at What Hasn’t Changed
When something bad happens, most people focus completely on what changed, which is natural, and it’s also the hardest place to stand. So the question I always ask is, what hasn’t changed?
Make a list of everything that’s still the same. You still have your skills, your relationships, your ideas, and your ability to work! When you focus there, you keep your comfort and your security, and you stay grounded. And from that grounded place, it’s a lot easier to deal with the one thing that did change.
Lesson Four: Resourcefulness Is Your Superpower
Here’s where so many entrepreneurs get stuck. An obstacle appears, and they decide the road is closed and there’s no point going any further.
Really? Take another road! Get a helicopter, or find someone with a bulldozer and clear the road. There is always a way through if you’re willing to look for it.
I could have told myself that without power for a few days, there’s nothing I can do for my business. Why would I ever think that way? Even with nothing but a pad and paper, I can write down ideas, and that would be a win! I can get farm work done on the ranch in the cooler morning and evening hours, and in the heat of the day maybe we go into town where there’s air conditioning. It’s an unplanned break, but a break is a break!
You are never totally helpless. If you’re feeling helpless, it usually means you haven’t gotten resourceful yet! Finding the way through has always been my superpower, and I teach people again and again that it can be yours too.
Flex or Break
We’re in a time of enormous change right now, and with change comes chaos. I believe October may be one of the more chaotic months we’ve seen, so the question for you is a simple one. How are you going to flex with it? How are you going to bend without breaking?
I’m not sharing my week because I want sympathy. I’m sharing it because it’s real, it’s happening right here and right now, and you can learn from it. Every situation life throws at you is a chance to learn about yourself, learn how you respond, and find a better way to respond next time. Take the time to learn the lesson, and it will make you stronger and smarter for the next one, because life is always going to throw something at you!
Stay strong, stay flexible, and go find your way through!
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*Are you staring at an obstacle in your business and can’t see the way around it? That’s almost never a tactics problem. It’s a strategy problem you’re simply too close to see, and from the outside it jumps out in minutes. Book a Power Session with me at renegade.club/powersession and let’s find your way through together!
Then listen to the full episode of Renegade Breakthroughs at RobertImbriale.com/listen.
We’ll be back next week with a full show and a guest.*
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