Ep213: Inspiration in Times of Crisis from David Barnett, Andrew Sherman & Erik Bergman

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We are living through the COVID-19 Coronavirus times. Times of fear, despair, and anxiety. We all need words of hope and encouragement to keep us going. Andrew reached out to our past podcast guests who took a few minutes to share nuggets of wisdom on how to survive and thrive through this epidemic.

David Barnett from Ep136: Always Have a Clear Path to Plan B

• You are not your business. You, as a person, are a wholly distinct and separate thing from your business.
• There are going to be many businesses that will no longer be viable and will end up closing. That’s not a reflection upon the business owners; it’s just a function of the time that we’re in.
• There is going to be a long and protracted recession; people need to think about themselves as individuals ahead of their businesses.
• If your business survives this, that’s great. But if you don’t see a way out, then you need to look for the path to extricate yourself from the situation, while retaining as many resources as you can so you create opportunities for yourself once this thing winds up and is over.
• When a business starts to head downhill for whatever reason, cut your losses, and don’t put your resources into the business to try to help it survive. Your survival has to be paramount in a situation like this.

Andrew Sherman from Ep133: Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Business

• Now’s the time to retool, repurpose, reevaluate your business and your value proposition.
• It’s also a time to look at the future of work and the future of the workplace. Will working from home be the new normal? How will that affect staffing, teamwork, engagement issues, and even innovation and creativity?
• It’s also an excellent time to be sure that you stay close to your customers. The small businesses and entrepreneurs that really stay close to their customers are being rewarded now with alternative business models.

Erik Bergman from Ep112: Keep Empathy in the Start-Up War Room

• Lower the amount of media exposure, so you don’t get stressed out by watching the news and watching the numbers all the time. Focus on other, less stressful things.
• Use this as an opportunity to create new habits. You don’t get new results by setting new goals; you get new results by creating new habits. Habits are everything.
• Many of us are working from home and meeting fewer people, meaning that we have more time on our hands to create new habits.
• Use this time to learn about different ways to make money online. Google and search on YouTube for various business ideas and guides. Explore these things and see if you can find something that sparks your curiosity and can be turned into a money-making opportunity.