5 Ways to Survive the Crisis
I want to talk about five counterintuitive ways to beat the next crisis, but first, you have to rethink what we mean by a crisis.
Consider the Japanese word for crisis. It comprises two characters that separately mean “danger” & “opportunity.” Crisis contains elements of both. We tend to focus on the danger part, become scared, & react impulsively. Instead, we should focus on the opportunity part, trust our existing processes & systems, & find ways to help ourselves & others through difficult times.
Tip 1: Understand your financial and tax status
The first counterintuitive way to beat the next crisis is to understand your financial and tax status. Know what the structure of your business is, and how that structure relates to how it’s taxed, to how you’re going to present financial information to bankers and lenders and investors.
Tip 2: Maintain your systems
Have good systems in place that you trust. Maintain them in good times. Maintain them in rough times.
Tip 3: Niche down on your service offering
Have a specific target customer or client, and get even more specific. Be the trusted, expert advisor your target client or customer needs during a crisis.
Tip 4: Increase your prices
Set yourself up with the value, both to the customer or client and to your top line, that you should expect given the value you’re going to bring to them, given the expertise that you have. Don’t reduce the value of your work. Don’t signal the reduction of the value of your work by reducing your prices, and don’t reduce your ability to generate revenue, to stay focused on your clients and your customers.
Tip 5: Expand your capacity
Expand your capacity to be able to serve them, not just during good times, but during rough times, too.
Nothing is for certain, especially during a crisis. After all, a crisis is half-dangerous. But remember, it’s only HALF dangerous; it’s also half opportunity. Which half are you going to focus on?
