074: When Times Are Tougher In Business

Business these days is like real-world strength training.

In this podcast I share five steps to ensure you make the most of any economic frustration and hopefully walk out with the upper hand - keep this episode handy for any difficult time in your business journey because these steps are applicable then too.

By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:

• How important it is to intentionally choose your business / market position
• The effect the business owner has on their business, team and results
• How to not suffocate your business by stressing over it any further

Enjoy!

Other Episodes To Enjoy:

• 042: Overcoming The Marketing Challenges Of Your Industry
• 045: One Question, Big Results
• 049: How Action Creates Answers
• 066: Why Your Business Doesn’t Stay Busy

Let's Connect on LinkedIn!

If you’d like to work together, book your Complimentary Consultation here.

Transcript

Shannon Stone 0:05

Have you noticed ? So much business and marketing content out there is so abstract and airy-fairy , like what they're saying sounds good , but what do you actually need to do ? That's where the Good Marketing , good Business podcast comes in . This is where I share practical strategies to help you grow your service-based business . And , in case we haven't met yet , I'm Shannon Stone , award-winning business and marketing consultant , and for the last decade or so , I've been diving in deep with small business owners , helping them to make more sales and get more done in less time , and today's episode is no different . Enjoy . Hey , welcome to the podcast .

Shannon Stone 0:42

Super excited to jump into this episode today and I hope you've had an amazing week , an amazing time . And if you're listening to this live or when it's just gone up , I just cannot believe we are in November . It is crazy . So what we have for us today is when times are tougher in business . So it is 2024 , very much the tail end . And recently I put a poll up on LinkedIn to just kind of gauge the room as far as business owners and how they're feeling , and the poll was something along the lines of do you feel like business is harder now or was it harder during the pandemic ? And most people said , business is harder right now and you may be feeling that way as well . It kind of feels like it's been a bit of a drag , as far as it's not just a month or a couple of months , possibly not even just like a year of more turbulence , it's just been a real time , maybe since the pandemic , and maybe it feels like things have gotten just incrementally harder the more time that has gone on . So I wanted to share a little bit . Maybe you could take it as a bit of a pep talk or just , I guess , a little bit of support and guidance and just something from an external perspective . Obviously , I'm not in your business , but if this is to help you in any kind of way , that is my goal with this episode today just to share some hopefully something insightful and helpful for when times are tougher in business , no matter how long it's been feeling for you and we all go through this , so just know you are not alone . If that helps you feel any better . Okay , so I've got a couple of things that I'll share with

Acknowledge what’s going on

Shannon Stone 2:28

us .

Shannon Stone 2:28

Number one is to acknowledge what is going on . I think that's always really important as the first thing . So as much as I can be like the world's most biggest optimist , we also need to genuinely acknowledge , sometimes , what is actually going on . That might be in your business Definitely we don't want to have rose-colored glasses on . So there's your business , there's your industry , there's the economy at large . There's also the market as well , the people that are wanting to hire you or who could be hiring you .

Shannon Stone 3:04

I think it's really important to acknowledge what is actually going on and to understand things as they are changing . One of the big things that I stay really tapped into as someone who comes from a marketing background , is the market and people that are buying , how they're buying and how their behaviors change over time . Because that is so important , literally now more than ever , we have to be really mindful of those changes and those evolutions that are happening , because if you don't , if you're ignoring it , you're not acknowledging it , your marketing is just not going to stick . So number one is you really have to acknowledge what is going on and just see it for what it is . Don't bring the emotions into it . Just you know , for black and white , if you're looking at data , if you're talking to people like , gauge the room as far as what is happening , and also in this I do also want to share , because I guess this episode in a lens , as a perspective , it's talking about when times are tougher .

Shannon Stone 4:05

Just because times are tougher , I want you to remind yourself and maybe this is the first time you've heard it but there have been a multitude of businesses and great companies that have been born through recession times . So I know we're not the Disneys of the world and the Dropboxes of the world or the MailChimps of the world , or Airbnb or Uber . All of those were birthed during recession times . But that doesn't mean your business can't have incredible success when times are tougher . And it's really amazing actually to note that when times are tougher I know , know for my clients when things don't go perfectly to plan , quite often like more times than not , they are the times when we come up with the best ideas , the best strategies , and it's because things aren't working how we should , how we thought they should , and we come up with even better ideas , greater ideas , greater efficiencies , things that we wouldn't have thought of had we just followed that regular , proven strategy that typically works most of the time . So just because times are tougher or it's feeling a little bit harder , it doesn't mean it's a bad thing .

Shannon Stone 5:17

So I wanted to share that with point number one as much as you acknowledge things and just see it for how it is , don't let it dictate , I guess a negative lens as to where your business could land , because so many amazing things happen when things are tougher . So don't connect tougher with negativity for yourself in your business . That is number one .

Pick your position

Shannon Stone 5:38

Number two is and this is probably my favorite point is to pick your position . So if business has been harder for you , there's really three ways that you could go . You could go backwards and you could just succumb to what is happening . And there are actually businesses who will just run at a loss for a couple of years . Intentionally , they plan to do that . So when you're picking your position years , intentionally , they plan to do that . So when you're picking your position , you could plan to just succumb to what is happening . I know a lot of businesses , particularly in the finance space mortgage broking , a lot of things that are dictated by a lot of governing bodies . They're often the ones who will . I don't know if succumb to what's happening is the word , but I guess they've read the room , they're picking their position and they're happy to almost just ride it out as best they can . So you can choose that .

Shannon Stone 6:31

The second way to pick your position is to maintain . So wherever your business is relatively at most of the time I would assume and hope it's in profit it's in a good stance . Maybe that's your position . You want to maintain , just maintain where you're at revenue-wise , profit-wise , just relatively how your business operates . Maybe that is your position . The third position is that you are choosing to grow . So , no matter what is happening in the market , with the industry , with the economy , with everything that is happening , you are still choosing to grow . And why it is my favorite is because the choices are there . You get to decide how do you want to play this . Even if it is tougher , you still have that choice and that opportunity to pick your position . Do you choose to go backwards , do you choose to maintain or do you choose to grow ? Do you choose to maintain or do you choose to grow ? And I feel like , if we can set that from the get-go , what happens from then outwards is dictated by the position that you choose .

Shannon Stone 7:32

So number two is to pick your position and you might even just say okay , for the next three to six months I'm just choosing to maintain . That is all I have mental and professional capacity for . I'm just going to maintain , and that is something we are more than happy to maintain . That is all I have mental and professional capacity for . I'm just going to maintain , and that is something we are more than happy to do , whereas someone else is . No , we want to grow . That is absolutely what we are doing 100% of the time . So there is no right or wrong answer . The choice is up to you .

Make a plan to match your position

Shannon Stone 7:58

Then number three and you know I love a list is to make a plan to match your position . So say , you've chosen to grow . Okay , how are you going to do that ? What does that look like ? Has the plan you have been working so far been producing results for you ? If so , amazing . That's probably a really good plan to continue to do .

Shannon Stone 8:22

If it hasn't been , you need to come up with a plan to match that position . If you want to grow , what does that look like ? Or if you choose to maintain , what does that look like ? And I love these two step two and three paired together , because it's like , say , you choose to maintain , you don't want to have growth strategies and astronomical strategies , or if it's the other way around . For example , say , you choose to grow your business , that's the position that you choose . However , the plan that you have is to basically maintain where you're at , it's to do what you have been doing , but what we're often seeing at the moment with a lot of businesses is it's actually taking a lot more quantity wise , and more strategic wise . It's taking more of the business to even maintain where they're at . So I guess you need to reflect on both these points and that's why I think they're coupled really beautifully together . So number two was to pick that position , and number three is to make a plan to match your position . Okay , number four and five , let's start to wrap this up .

Shannon Stone 9:24

So

It’s on you, the business owner

Shannon Stone 9:25

number four is , I guess , to really check yourself as the business owner . I really do believe and I feel like it's like now more than ever you might have heard that quote . I know Tony Robbins says it . Probably a lot of people say it that the success of a business is 80% psychology , 20% strategy , and they'll often say , like it's 80% the business owner , 20% everything else . I believe that to be incredibly true . It's like if you see who is leading the charge , who's really driving things or not driving things , that just ripples like dictates across the whole business .

Shannon Stone 10:03

So number four is to check yourself as the business owner and think about how are you showing up ? What is it that you believe about your business at this point in time ? What are you reinforcing and stating to your team as well ? What are you communicating down to them ? So much of it , so much of your growth , so much of your position , so much of executing the plan and the strategies that you have in business come down to the business owner , and this is more from , I guess , that psychology point of view . It doesn't mean you have to be executing everything , but if you've made very clear what your position is , you've made very clear what the plan is and you're communicating that to everyone , everyone's on the same page . So check yourself as a business owner . Do all of those things line up , because if they don't , then like everything is to go after you . So let's check you first and then , from then on out , the chances of everything else being stronger and at better play is probably going to be much more greater , going to give you much greater results in your business . So number four is check yourself as the business owner . Okay , and the fifth and final step that I have for us . So , when times are tougher in business , now I've shared a lot of logical , practical type of strategies and steps

Release the grip

Shannon Stone 11:19

that you can do .

Shannon Stone 11:19

Number five is extremely different and it is to almost adopt this idea of like just a happy go lucky . Like . I think we can stress so much about business . It is any of the people that I work with . Business is a hundred percent of their life . Most of the time , obviously , they have families and they have things outside of business , but business really is one of their biggest buckets . But I think , as well , as much as we can have the strategies , all the things , our to-do list , the team , whatever it is , your projects , your clients , all the things we have to at some point just like , release the strain a little bit and just almost adopt this idea of like , happy , go lucky . Like . I'm doing the best I possibly can . I've picked my position , I've got my plan in place , I'm communicating this to my team , I'm working my to-do list , I'm doing the actions that I need to do . Like . I'm doing all the things . I'm listening to the podcast to get the ideas and I'm hoping you're executing on them as well . You are doing the best that you can .

Shannon Stone 12:19

So , even as times are tougher , even when times are good as well , I think at some point we have to just almost like , release the strain , release the hold and return to like a happy-go-lucky kind of center point for ourselves . It's like we can't strangle our business with all the angst and what is going on out there . I think that is just going to spill over into all the different strategies and the way that you execute , the way you communicate with people . So , whatever your beautiful , amazing , calm type of grounded energy is in your version , for me it's probably like that happy-go-lucky , like it's just a little bit more positivity going on . We can't always just be looking at what is negative going on and we can't just be chained to our business doing all the do's all of the time , even though we will do it sometimes . We just need to release the strain a little bit , tell ourselves we're doing the best we absolutely can and we'll still get everything done . We'll still stick to the position that we've chosen . We're still going to execute the plan . We're still going to do all the things , but we're going to do it from a place of I'm doing the best I can and that is all we can ask for . So that is what I have for you today Just a little bit of a check-in , a pep talk , a read the room around what is happening with businesses , and I hope you found this useful .

Shannon Stone 13:37

If you did , feel free to reach out anytime , and if we're not connected on LinkedIn , definitely connect over there . It's where I'm spending most of my time these days , aside from the podcast , of course , and what I will do as far as an action step for this episode . There's a couple of episodes that I will select that will tie in really nicely with listening to this one . So I'll make sure I choose those and pop them in the show notes or the description . So definitely check it out , and that's what I have for you today .

Shannon Stone 14:06

I hope you have an amazing week and I'll talk to you soon . Hey , thanks for listening . If you found this episode useful , I'd love for you to send it to a friend . The best podcasts I have found have all been recommended to me . If you can spread the word by sharing this episode , I can spend more time helping you by creating episodes just like this one . Send it , text it , tell somebody about it . Whatever you need to do , the more you spread the word , the more I can focus on creating needle-moving episodes to help you and your friends .