Crisis is an amplifier of mindset.
Here’s what I’ve noticed during the multiple economic downturns I’ve been through:
Entrepreneurs who have a fantastic mindset before a crisis continue to show up proactively, market themselves, and sell their services during the time when things get intensely challenging.
Yes, they have to deal with the same ramifications as every other business.
Yes, they have worries and struggles just like everyone else.
But their determination to succeed drives them to quickly make adjustments to their new environment.
This allows them to not only survive a crisis…but ultimately launch their business to new and greater heights once the downturn has passed.
Conversely, I also know:
Business owners who already had mindset issues before a crisis will use it as an excuse to curl up in a corner.
They cut the wrong expenditures, they stop marketing and selling, and they (incorrectly) believe that no one will buy their offers.
So they make poor business decisions out of fear.
I want you to know…NOW is the time to make your big decision.
Will you set your mind to succeed?
What you do now in your business will determine where you’re at in 6 months…12 months…2 years…
If you’re that entrepreneur who knows you will succeed no matter what, you’re going to experience growth during this time. That’s real. That’s a fact.
Your mindset is everything right now. It’s your edge, your secret weapon, and your best friend…IF you employ it to work for you.
How to improve your mindset right now
I have mindset exercises I want you to do RIGHT NOW if you’re not doing them already.
These are the things my clients are doing to continue to land new projects and contracts.
These are the things they’re doing to keep scaling their businesses and be resourceful.
I have one client who booked her biggest client ever just a couple months after the Covid-19 quarantine when other businesses were shutting down — no kidding.
I have another who learned his existing client had money saved for a “time like this” and more than doubled his monthly retainer.
If you have a mindset to succeed and take chances and are willing to be creative and scrappy — you will come out of any economic crisis a bigger and better entrepreneur on the other side — then you will find there is still ample opportunity to scale your business.
It takes regular mindset work, which I know is not always easy.
But remember — you get to choose your “hard.”
Your “hard” can be months without new clients, without income growth, without change, and without success.
Or your “hard” can be reaching each day to improve the lives of your clients, multi-X your income, and do your own self-work.
YOU get to choose your mindset.
YOU get to choose your business outcomes.
YOU get to seek out greater results.
5 Ways to Use Your Mindset To Keep Your Business Moving Forward In A Crisis
1. Set (or Reset) Your Big Vision
Your Big Vision is the mental picture you paint of how YOU want your business to look.
Without a Big Vision, you’re cruising blind without a navigation system. You have no compass, no guide.
Your Big Vision establishes a purpose for everything you do…and guess what? YOU get to create it.
Try this: close your eyes and allow yourself to dream about what your business looks like 2 months from now…1 year from now…5 years from now. This is your dream and you get to create what you want.
What does your workday look like? How about your team? Who are your clients? Where is your office? What is your monthly income?
When you have clarity on your Big Vision, you develop a roadmap and you get unstuck.
Knowing where you’re going helps you to perpetuate forward motion and keep marketing and growing your business.
Now more than ever, this is the time to be in alignment with your services, your offers, your brand, etc. AKA your Big Vision.
So take some time to dream of your business’s future, and keep a journal of what success looks like to you. Write it down again and again until your vision is crystal clear on where you want your business to be.
2. Create a ‘Stack of Spectacular‘
If your internal dialogue sounds something like…
“I’m too new.”
“I’m too small.”
“No one is hiring right now.”
“I’m just trying to survive.”
…then it’s time to change your narrative.
There ARE people out there waiting for what you have to offer. It’s up to you to be present right now and not let them down.
If you don’t believe in your heart that your services are needed, good enough, or valuable enough — AKA absolutely f&%*ing awesome — write 50 bullet points of why your services provide amazing results for your clients.
I call this your Stack of Spectacular.
Get it down on paper, and don’t stop until you have at least 50 reasons why people should hire YOU over anyone else.
Go to 100 if you can!
I want you to feel absolute conviction in yourself and your services. If you don’t believe in you, others won’t believe in you.
3. Get More Testimonials
Another option for changing a negative narrative: ask for reviews or testimonials.
A downturn can be a great time to ask clients for feedback while people have more time on their hands and/or maybe want to help your business in different ways.
Sometimes we need that feedback to reassure ourselves, and to be affirmed of just how good we are at what we do.
Turn around your self-talk, and soak in the fact that you have something unique and valuable to offer, and there ARE still people out there who need you right now.
4. Face Your Business Fears
We give into fear before we even begin.
We talk ourselves out of being successful. We feel imposter syndrome.
During times of crisis and/or change, your amygdala is shouting DANGER, DANGER, DANGER…and wants you to back off and stay in your comfort zone.
It’s the evolutionary part of us that wants to keep us safe, and it’s called FEAR.
But it has no place in helping you to reach the level of success you desire.
I ask you to let failure be your teacher. Get past the imposter syndrome. Get cozy with discomfort.
Quiet that voice that might be saying, “Who am I to be putting myself out there?”
Fear is what keeps us from going after what we really truly want because we are scared of being embarrassed, or being wrong.
Let me tell you…it is time to kick that big bully FEAR to the curb.
If you want to get past your limiting beliefs — all those self sabotaging thought patterns — you’ve got to identify, acknowledge, and move past your fears.
There is no bigger barrier to business success.
It takes consistent, daily mindset work to eliminate fear and replace your beliefs with empowering thought patterns. When you’re able to do this, THEN you’ll be amazed at the rate at which you start to see bigger and better results.
Bonus Reading >> How Can Business Owners Overcome Failure of Fear in Business?
5. Break Through Your Set Points
Entrepreneurs get stuck.
Our mindset can be our own worst enemy, or our own best friend.
Here’s the thing: our bodies and brains have set points. These set-points keep us feeling safe, comfortable, in-the-know, etc.
It’s why we hit plateaus. It’s why we just can’t seem to break the $X income mark, or the X number of clients mark.
So if you’re getting stopped right now, what do you think in your brain is stopping you from making the kind of growth you want? What have you bounced up against? What walls keep showing up again and again.
I invite you to spend some time to really think about where you’ve felt stuck in the past, or where you’re feeling stuck right now.
And then pick new set points.
Even if they seem unreachable. Even if they seem unrealistic.
Because if you find yourself falling short of your current set points, then you need to move them ahead.
Wouldn’t you rather fall barely short of a $10K/month income goal than barely short of a $3K/month income goal?
If you were to physically draw a plot line, think about where your new set point should be. If it’s an income scale of $0-$300K for example, mark the dot on the point you start to feel uncomfortable.
That’s where your new set point should be. It’s where you bust through your plateau and do a victory dance on the other side.
Ultimately, You Get To Choose Your Business Mindset
You get to dictate what your mindset is during a crisis.
You can curl up in your corner. And wait. And be stuck.
Or you can metaphorically pick yourself up off the ground, brush your shoulders off, and take off charging ahead.
What do you want your audience to see? What do you want your story to be when things go back to normal (which things have always done after every economic downturn)?
If you need help crafting your big picture, let me know. I’m a big believer in practicing mindset work everyday (I do it myself), and I’m here to help you find opportunities to flip your narrative and keep moving your business forward — crisis or no crisis.
