James Schramko here. Today, I want to share with you a little tale of change and what you can do about it. So I’m filming this video in my Philippines house which I come and visit every year. And the trip here with a newborn, Lucy is four months old, was full of challenges. She’s only small and the plane ride is over eight hours long. And my video today is a little bit about adversity, resilience and some of the things that can happen along the way in your entrepreneurial journey. It all adds up, bear with me here.
So to get to the airport, of course, there’s logistics with a small child. You need car seats, prams, travel cot, and then of course, change of clothes and nappies, formulas, etc. So, a lot changes from when you take your backpack. We got picked up on time, went to the airport. And when we were there, the plane, unfortunately, got delayed by four hours. So we had to wait around the airport, managing sleeps and feeds and so forth. We had to also extend our catchment of nappies and clothes. So I bought some nice souvenir clothes so that Lucy would have a change of clothing on the flight in case anything terrible happened with her outfit.
So eventually we boarded the plane, she was doing pretty well with it. Mid-flight, of course, she did have a little bit of an explosion, shall I say, in the down there area. And that required a change in the change room on board, which is very, very small, not enough room for my wife and I to fit with Lucy. So it was one at a time. And we got there.
When we did arrive, the plane actually arrived at a different airport terminal than what we’d expected so we had to arrange transport. Because we had a lot of luggage, we had to arrange some help to collect the bags and get them to our house. When we finally got home, there was no water, because there was something happening in the local neighborhood. And so there was actually no water. So we’re a bit tired, a lot going on and no water. But a little bit after midnight, eventually, the water came on. And that was great.
Really the next day is just about catching up and recovering. A few little things here and there. My coffee machine, for example, stopped working. I had to figure out why. There were a couple of items that we need to get on this end that was just not practical to transport. But we’re getting there.
But you know, this whole trip just reminded me of life. Because right now, a few of the clients that I’m coaching are having some challenges in their own businesses, as you would expect. And by that, I mean, you really should expect challenges. My trip was handled because I expected things to go wrong. I try to anticipate as many things as possible. And I had backup plans for most. I knew we wouldn’t have enough capacity to carry the luggage in our vehicle so I organized for extra, for example.
So then there are other things you can’t plan like not having water. I mean, that’s a fundamental, but it can actually throw you out. So we were still able to secure some water on short notice. Little things like that can throw you out. So with my clients, one of them had a really challenging time with a change in business model that has caused cash flow issues. And it’s a matter of managing out of that while still doing advertising to get the cash flow going. And to arrange to change the infrastructure to manage that.
Another client of mine has found the business model that was working really well has stopped working because of a third-party issue where they’re getting stopped. And that’s certainly a huge challenge right now. I’ve got another client who is going so well, he actually can’t keep up with orders. So he’s got a capacity challenge. You know, you can anticipate this to some extent but then things happen.
And even in the Australian market, there was an election, there was changing interest rates, and that can actually fuel some business models and slow down others. So my point today really is allow for things to change. You will have challenges. It’s going to happen.
One of my favorite podcasts I ever did on SuperFastBusiness was with Nam Baldwin, who was a mindset expert. And he had this great acronym, which is called NEAT. I really like this one. N stands for it’s normal. So when these things happen, it’s normal. It’s not the anomaly, it’s actually normal. E is expected. No surprise, expected challenge. We expect and anticipate. We actually grow and thrive with these challenges, because this is what stops our competitors.
So A is accept it. Just accept that this is happening, there’s nothing we can do about it. We are sometimes in a situation where we have no control and we couldn’t possibly have anticipated it. This is what we call a black swan event. In fact, I even spend time anticipating black swan events, which is why I’m really strong on the idea of own the racecourse. Rather than being single-point sensitive with any part of the business, always have a backup. Before you go in the front door of a business, know how to get out the back door in case there’s a fire.
And T stands for tidy up. So it’s the mental tidy up process that comes with having dealt with the situation, understanding it, and then moving on in getting to the necessary space. So you can either react in a frightened, angry, annoyed, challenged way or you can just deal with the punches as they come knowing that this was always going to happen. Like that fighting quote, I think it was Mike Tyson who said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” So business will punch you in the face on a regular basis.
Having a good business coach will let you know where the punches are likely to come from. And will also make sure that your match-fit and you don’t hop in the ring with a competitor you can’t handle, so not getting yourself too far out of your zone where you can actually deal with stuff like this. And just expect these things to happen on a continuing basis.
And that is partly the joy of being an entrepreneur. You don’t get all these challenges as a safe employee. You don’t get all these challenges, operating in a really low comfort level compared to where you could be. But also you don’t get the rewards. And for my liking, the rewards are worth it. And I quite enjoy when things change a bit because I expect them and I’m like, Ah, there you are. I was waiting for you to come along. So I embrace change, I celebrate it and I thrive in it because I know it’s going to happen. It really is the thing that is certain, that there will be change.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little chat. I thought I just shared because it’s time to make a couple more videos. If you’ve got any suggestions on what you’d like to hear me talk about, then please type a comment right near this video. Let me know if you want something solved, tell me what the challenges and I’ll see if I can make a little video for you and I’ll give you a shout out as well.
Thank you so much for watching. James Schramko here from jamesschramko.com.
Leave a Reply