In the book Who Moved my Cheese, author, Spencer Johnson shares a fable that describes
four characters who live in a maze: two mice, Scurry and Sniff, and two mice-sized humans, Hem and Haw. The story starts with all four characters enjoying life because they found a huge source of their favorite food, cheese. Hem and Haw become so comfortable, they build houses and create lives that revolve around the cheese.
Eventually the cheese runs out, the two mice quickly accept it, make the proper adjustments and go off to find a new source of food while Hem and Haw act as if they have been victimized of some kind of theft or fraud and wait for their cheese to come back - which it never does.
Covid-19 has moved both your and my cheese! We need to think like the mice and act quickly because once quarantine is over, we will discover there is a new normal.
Expect an acceleration of events
The rules you were following pre Covid-19 will not be the same post-quarantine because when an unprecedented event, like this pandemic occurs, it tends to accelerate many changes that were already occurring. For instance, telemedicine was slowly moving towards being accepted as a way for a physician to administer care, and the Covid-19 crisis made it allowable in weeks. Working remotely and shared spaces will become standard operating procedures in every business. Online teaching will be more prevalent and accepted which will accelerate the bankruptcy of many colleges and universities. Many businesses that were failing are unfortunately going to fail faster.
The most effective businesses are making quick pivots and business model adjustments to stay in front of the acceleration. They are acting entrepreneurial. Several of the guests I have had on my podcast have talked about their pivots - Nick Pitillo from Osteria 166, saved his restaurant by adjusting his business model and creating a website to sell frozen Italian food within the first week of the quarantine shutdown. Jason Barrett of Black Button Distilling switched from making vodka to making hand sanitizer. Kathleen Chiavetta of Chiavetta’s chicken pivoted to pop-up drive thru’s and the business is thriving! All three understand the rules are continuing to change and in order to stay in front of the acceleration, they keep making entrepreneurial quick pivots.
Focus on what’s in your control!
We are all on this Covid-19 rollercoaster together and like any rollercoaster, there is no drivers seat. We have to accept the ups, downs and quick turns. These are very stressful times for everyone and it’s easy to act like Hem and Haw, to feel victimized and to lay blame on others for our misfortune. However, I suggest you do the opposite by focusing on what is in your control!
Make adjustments which will help you survive through quarantine and lay the groundwork to set yourself up for success once you can get back to work. Francine Brooks the owner of FB Displays and Designs is a good example of focusing on what’s in her control. All of her revenue is generated from making exhibit displays that are primarily used for trade shows. Covid-19 has essentially shut down the trade show industry and Francine told me that experts are saying most trade shows scheduled in 2020 will be cancelled.
Instead of feeling sorry for herself, or giving up, Francine has been on a weekly basis, asking the following question to her team, “How do we need to reinvent ourselves?” By taking that attitude, she is focusing on what’s in her control and has made the pivot to selling face shields and sanitizing stations with company branding, something all businesses will now need.
Network
A recession is when the country experiences a negative growth rate in Gross Domestic Product for two straight quarters. In other words, if the United States were a small business, a recession would be a decrease in sales for two straight quarters. GDP for the first quarter of 2020 dropped 4.8% and due to the country-wide quarantine, we can safely say the second quarter will be negative too. We are in a recession and since the last recession was over 10 years ago, about 70% of all existing businesses have never experienced a recession. Now more than ever, you need to network and surround yourself with peers and trusted advisors. Many of my clients have surrounded themselves with groups such as the UB Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) and Entrepreneur Organization (EO). As cliche and ubiquitous as is the term - we are in this together, it’s true! We are in this together if you allow others in!!
The businesses that will fail first are the ones whose owners are not networking because when you’re not networking, you’re not sharing ideas, You’re not learning, you’re not teaming up with others and you’re not getting advice to help make the timely entrepreneurial decisions and business model adjustments needed to survive.
Communicate!
The author, Dan Zadra said it best when he said “worry is a misuse of imagination.” Your employees are reading and watching the same news you are, they are worried too! The quarantine has created much less company-wide communication and when that happens, people tend to fill the communication gaps with worst case scenarios. It is more important than ever to communicate with your employees on a consistent (at least weekly) basis because it’s very possible that your employees are assuming that a lack of communication means that the company is doing poorly or failing. Set up weekly meetings with each individual who directly answers to you and be completely transparent about the current state of affairs. You can never over communicate in times like this, so have weekly company meetings too even if you are repeating exactly what you shared in the individual meetings.
Opportunities Abound!
Most businesses were barely breaking even during the best of economic times and it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, many businesses are going to fail during this recession. The businesses with the strongest balance sheets will survive. All you need to do is outlast your competition.
For example, restaurants are going to get crushed and I believe 30 - 50% are going to fail. However, the restaurants that were properly managing cash flow, building a reserve and strengthening the balance sheet will be the restaurants that survive and thrive. With all of the shuttered restaurants, there will be fewer restaurants remaining for people to go to and they will gain market share and have multiple opportunities to grow. This scenario will play out in every industry. It’s going to be survival of the fittest and the companies with the strongest balance sheets will reign supreme.
Like the book Who Moved my Cheese, this is not the time to act like the mice sized humans, Hem and Haw, this is the time to be proactive, to keep questioning how to reinvent yourself, to focus on what’s in your control, to network, to communicate with your team, to outlast your competition and to act like the two mice that quickly “pivoted” to search for more cheese. The opportunities are out there.
Now go find your cheese!