I had an experience last week that has me in reflection mode, especially when it comes to managing hard times and setbacks. I thought I’d share, since most of the time, that is the exact reason clients find me.
Here’s how I help them, and how I’ve managed my own setbacks. I hope it leaves you inspired.
First, here’s what has me reflecting:
When my daughter was almost four, she was diagnosed with infantile scoliosis, which is a rare (1 in 10,000) form of spinal curvature that has an onset before age ten. Scoliosis at that age is especially dangerous because a spine growing out-of-control in a small chest cavity near the heart and lungs can do quite a bit of pulmonary damage. My daughter’s curves were substantial enough to warrant aggressive treatment to avoid this. First, she would have to wear a series of body casts, applied under anesthesia and traction, and then she would wear braces to maintain the body cast corrections. There was no guarantee this would work, but it’s the best treatment there is for this rare condition.
I was scared. I worried that she would forget what a true, cuddly hug felt like. I wondered if she would miss swimming and playing in sandboxes with her friends. Selfishly, I even worried about what this might do to my career. Deep down, I worried that none of this would even work and that she would have to get rods or have compromised lungs for life.
Fast forward four body casts and seven braces, stretching over the span of six years and 49 days…
Last week we were told that my daughter could try going brace free, even during the night because her curves have measured under ten degrees for one year, which is considered remission from scoliosis. Considering we received this news two days after she turned ten, it was an incredible birthday gift, and a moment we will always remember. We were elated, nervous, and weirdly dumbfounded all at once. My daughter (who is incredibly resilient and thriving) even told me that she forgot what a soft bed felt like.
Looking back is easy because we have the advantage of knowing what happened next. I remember that I would have given anything to have a nonexistent crystal ball at the beginning of my daughter’s journey, but would it have helped? Would knowing that my daughter had six years and 49 days of discomfort and uncertainty ahead of her make it better or worse? It hindsight, it was a good thing that I could only focus on one cast and one brace at a time. Each time she was fitted for a new one, I was able to hope it was her last, giving me renewed energy to step through whatever came next… for six years and 49 days.
And as I reflected upon this journey, I couldn’t help but see the professional parallels.
Now, here’s my advice to you:
Just like personal setbacks, professional ones are hard too. Heck, for entrepreneurs (which many of you are), professional setbacks are personal. Common business scenarios that I work with are failed launches, inability to scale, or businesses that have grown steadily, only to become stagnant. Hard setbacks. REALLY hard setbacks. So hard that it’s easy to feel like giving up. Instead, employ my golden rule.
Easy to hard.
Here’s an example:
Nine years ago I launched my consulting firm. A few months in, I pitched a client that would have been a game changer. I knew that if I won this client, it would bring my business to the next level quickly and allow me to make a strategic hire. I spent hours refining my pitch, putting my heart, soul, and knowledge into it. The competition was high, and I made it through several rounds of decision-making, and ultimately, I was number two. Ugh. I was devastated. I even considered throwing in the towel on my business and doubted why I went off on my own anyway. And then, I reminded myself of my own golden fix-it rule: Easy to hard.
First, I made a list of all the clients I could pitch in place of that client. Just doing that got me excited about the list. There were potential clients on there that I liked even better than the one I’d lost.
Then, I used the time that I hoped I’d be devoting to a new client to develop workshops that I could use as passive pitches. Those workshops let me down a path to educating others about the nuances of digital and branding strategy in these fast-changing times that I would never abandon. It also happened to lead to the competitor of the client who rejected me to give me an even bigger contract just months later. It turns out that I was able to make that first hire after all. Nine years later, I’ve scaled in several ways, and my business is still going strong.
If you’re reading this and facing a professional setback, here’s how you can apply my easy to hard rule:
- Brainstorm. Again, making that pitch list was not only productive and fruitful, but it gave me hope and inspired me when I was feeling down on my luck.
- Do one strategic thing quickly after you brainstorm. For me, that was the training workshop that created a pipeline of consistent clients who witnessed my value (and also ignited a love for mentorship that would play a big role in shaping the coaching and training portion of my business that I subsequently launched).
After those two easy steps, I went on to do a number of hard things to scale my business and keep it thriving, and you will too. You’ll make innovations. You’ll make hires. You’ll solve complex problems, and the list goes on. You’ll achieve hard things that are tough to imagine during a setback because the initial steps took the overwhelm out of the process.
I believe in this so strongly that I never even tell my clients who are facing setbacks my fix-it plan beyond those first two steps until we achieve them, and it always works. By the time we make a plan for the hard stuff, the confidence and momentum is flowing again.
And as a bonus, this strategy works personally too. Remember, I could have never imagined six years and 49 days into the future, but here we are.
If you are facing a professional setback, don’t give up, but don’t jump ahead too far either. Instead, take my two easy steps. Success is just around the corner.
