Unwanted Gifts

I don't need to tell anyone what a rough time it's been. I felt fortunate starting my career in the early 00's. I missed the recession we had to have in the 90's and was part of a time of unstoppable growth. You couldn't put a foot wrong.?

2007 and the Global Financial Crisis punched me in the face like I'd never experienced before.?

The internet was far from what it is now. Facebook was busy being banned from workplaces as a stupid distraction, rather than being an integral part of the marketing mix that it is today.?

This was also the time when I was preparing to launch my own company, off the back of years of success, I was raring to give it a shot. What a poorly thought-out decision that was. What I discovered was shrinking marketing budgets, as companies held on to what they had in order to weather the storm.?

What little business I could bring on had next to nothing to spend and we as a business had no runs on the board.?

This taught us to be frugal, to seek opportunities, to look where others did not. It was when we aggressively started pushing online advertising, comparative to traditional media, it was comically cheap and because these platforms were still chasing scale, there was no limit to their reach back then.?

Prior to 2007, you could sign cheques with a stamp. Post '07? You simply had to find a way.?

It was a brutal introduction to self-employment, which meant holding down additional jobs at the time to ensure I could continue to provide for my family and make our mortgage payments. I took a job banging pegs in the ground in these glorious times, marking out the dimensions of new homes to be built assisting a surveyor. It meant I could still answer calls and could truthfully say to clients who called, I was "out on the tools".

These were some of the first and most severe lessons I was served up about business ownership. That if you want it to work, you need to do whatever it takes.?

These past two years? I best describe them as "the fuckening" and please excuse my potty mouth, but seriously. What a trainwreck.?

Small business has been kicked time and time and time again. Here in South-East Queensland, we spent December of 2021 excited about a new year of freedom. Instead, the old let 'er rip strategy wiped out staff, confidence and two weeks of the school year. As we stumbled to get back up... it floods. As we're cleaning that up, WW3 starts to tango.?

Seriously??

The fact is that it's never a good time. Outside forces are always against you. The good side is you get to choose.?

With the number of hits I have taken over the years, now I just shrug, smile and get on with it. I am still looking for the gift in the most terrible of wrapping.?

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