Are You In Need of a Plexectomy?

What I Learned from Terry's conversation with Chris Jones ...

You may be wondering, what is a plexectomy? and why would I need one?

According to Chris Jones, author of Relentless AF and EOS Coach for many companies including Aberhart Farms and Suregrowth Solutions,

"You get a piece of plexiglass installed in your stomach so that when your head's up your ass, you can see where you're going..."

This was the condition he faced as 70% of his business disappeared overnight when he lost a major supplier ...

" Losing 70% overnight was a fairly significant problem.?That was one of those moments of 'HOLY S$%t ... what am I gonna do now?' When I lost that much of my business in one moment, I was in need of a plexectomy. It was a tough spot. I questioned whether the business could survive with only the amount of revenue that was left. What am I doing this for? If we can lose that much in one go, it was a dangerous spot. Luckily I kind of knew it was coming. There was writing on the wall that the relationship was going to come to an end. It wasn't a matter of IF, it was a matter of WHEN.?One of the mentors that I had as I was talking to about that said, 'Well, what's your plan B if this happens?'

Chris Jones, relentless as he is, made a plan before the wave hit.

"And so I gave him a list, ... I'm gonna do

- this,

- that,

- and the other thing.

And he said, 'Okay, cool. Is that written down somewhere?' ...

... and I said, 'No',

... and he said, 'Okay, next month when we meet, I wanna see the written plan, including a budget, the people plan, what expenses you're dropping, how you're gonna recover revenue, et cetera ...

and I said, 'Oh ... okay.'

I wrote the plan up, wrote the budget, did the whole thing, and then presented it to him the next month. He poked some holes in it. I made a few tweaks to it and went and filed it away.

Then BOOM, I lose 70%!

My heads up my butt. What do I do? Oh, wait a second ... I got that plan B. And so I went and found it, pulled it out. There were 200 decisions made in that plan. I thought, 'Wow, this is a really good plan, except for two decisions that totally don't make sense for the situation that we're currently in.'

Let's get clear ... with my head up my butt ... my capacity for making decisions was fairly limited. I had to make two decisions instead at 200. We made those decisions and regrew the business. The first couple weeks were pretty gnarly. It was a rough first two weeks. The best advice I got through that is ... rip the bandaid off ... get through the pain as fast as possible. I just charged headlong into the storm and powered through the difficult conversations, difficult decisions that popped up as, as we had to terminate the relationship. In two weeks, I was free from the past and could look in the windshield instead of the rear view mirror and started regrowing the business. I was having a ton of fun doing it. "

For Chris, sometimes when people think you are crazy, that can be a good sign.

"People would come up to me and say, 'Chris, I'm so sorry about what happened.'

I'm like, 'What are you talking about? I'm having a riot right now.'

They thought I lost it.

They'd say, 'Do you need to go see a doctor?' They thought I was crazy, but it was super fun for me to wipe the slate clean, start over, and redraw the rules. I ended up writing my own agreements going forward. I was never put in a precarious position like that again. I was way more diligent in choosing my partnerships going forward so that I had less exposure and also was able to diversify my portfolio, which I knew I was way too heavy in one arena and then we got caught. The blank slate gave us the opportunity to redraw the rules of the game and it made us way, way stronger in the end."

What part of your life and business would you rewrite if you had a blank slate?

Do you have a plan B?

When you farm, your tractor has GPS to guide it straight in the dust and the dark.

Does you have your internal GPS have a lock for when the storms inevitably comes?

As an Entrepreneurial Operating Systems Implementor, Chris Jones helps folks like my brother get clarity and traction in their business(es).

You can hear my brother Terry's entire conversation with Chris at growingthefuturepodcast.ca, or wherever you listen to podcasts.