Surviving and Thriving during Tough Times Part 1 -- Business Psychology 101

Posted by Laddie Blaskowski on Aug 26, 2008

There is no doubt that just about all of us are feeling pinched in today’s economic environment. Throughout my career, first as a business banker and then as a business consultant, I’ve been involved with hundreds of companies that have weathered tough times. Whether tough times come about because of economic downturns, industry changes, or other outside factors, I believe your mindset can make an enormous difference in whether you survive or thrive.

Today we’re going to talk about the psychology of surviving tough times. Here are some strategies I believe will help make you and your business stronger:

1. Focus on helping others. In a difficult economy, it’s very important to not get so wrapped up in your own worries that you take your mind off the real reason you’re in business.

You have a product or service to provide to your customers that makes their lives better or helps them. If you concentrate on your customers’ needs and on giving them the best you have to offer, it will force you to think positively. An added benefit is that it will build loyalty and they will be less likely to leave you for a competitor. So think about things your business can do to benefit your clients and help them be more successful.

2. Take time for yourself. Often during tough times, business owners decide to hunker down and not do anything for themselves. They may be reluctant to spend money on leisure activities or fear that the business will suffer if they spend time away from it, but this can be counterproductive. If you never take time away from the business to de-stress and clear your head, you will be so immersed in it that you can’t see clearly anymore and make the best decisions.

On a personal level, for the sake of your physical, mental and emotional health, you need time away from the business to refresh and recharge. You don’t have to be gone for a large block of time or take an expensive vacation. Even simple, inexpensive activities like reading a book, taking a walk, or taking off for a three-day weekend close to home can help you feel rested, clear your mind and make you more effective when you return to work.

3. Focus on building and maintaining relationships. When times are tough, it’s more important than ever to nurture your relationships with your clients and referral sources. For one thing, it’s a good habit to develop and keep regardless of economic conditions.

And in an economic downturn, your competitors are probably also going through tough times and will be after your customers and network sources. They will be contacting people they might have ignored in the past, when they had plenty of business. The best thing you can do to counter this is to make sure your business relationships are strong and that you’re doing everything you need to do to maintain those relationships.

4. Look for opportunities. Focusing on the negatives or what you have lost won’t make things better. Instead, you should focus on the opportunities because there can be many of them during a down economy.

Many businesses have managed to thrive during economic downturns when their owners looked for opportunities—new products or services they could offer and creative ways to change their businesses. This is a good time to evaluate your business and brainstorm ideas, with an optimistic attitude.

5. Pay attention to what you think and say. During tough times, it’s easy to get into the habit of thinking negative thoughts and making negative comments. “I don’t know how we’re going to make money.” “My business is dropping.” “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Constantly thinking about the bad stuff will only serve to bring you and your staff down, and will inhibit your ability to think about creative solutions. As we discussed earlier, new opportunities may be out there. One way to think about it is that if business it slow, it gives you more time to think creatively, explore interesting opportunities, build new relationships or strengthen old ones.

6. Make the hard decisions and move on. When times get tough, we sometimes need to make difficult decisions involving employees, suppliers, and others. If this is the case, pull the trigger and put it behind you. Procrastination on making the decision or continuing to look back afterwards is not healthy. The key is to focus on the future.

Finally, realize that tough times don’t last forever. The economy, industries and culture all change over time. If you’re willing to change and work through a tough economy, you’ll be one of the survivors when an upturn comes. In some ways, you’ll be even stronger than you were before.

BusinessTruth®: The only constant in business is change, so embrace it.