#SmallBiz

How to Bounce Back from Business Setbacks Fast: 5 Questions You Must Ask Yourself Immediately After a Setback

How to Bounce Back from Business Setbacks Fast: 5 Questions You Must Ask Yourself Immediately After a Setback

A sudden loss of a major customer, a delayed shipment, an unexpected departure of your superstar employee, an injury/accident, a failed launch, a deal falling apart in the last minute, family emergencies… Operating a business comes with many unexpected challenges. Worse yet, multiple setbacks can come at us all at once.

When setbacks like these happen to you, they can take you right out of your element. This is particularly true when you are laser-focused on achieving your goal, leaving no room for doubts.

 

So, how do we bounce back from setbacks fast?

 

On a personal note, while writing this post, I experienced a setback. 

Only a few days from my meetup live event in NYC, I had no choice but to put it on hold due to an unexpected complication with the venue, where the event was supposed to be held.

This has never happened during my 2 years of running live events.  

If you are experienced in running events big or small, you know the production process starts way before the actual event.  You may also know that securing a venue is the biggest hurdle for anyone who wants to host a live business event. 

Needless to say, it was a blow at first.  To make the matter worse, in just one-weeks’ time surrounding this setback, I have gone through a massive water leak in my apartment, resulting in a section of the ceiling falling down and a family member getting injured.  Luckily, none of these were life threatening. 

Nonetheless, they did not help me get through a setback any easier.

This experience prompted me to write this post on how you can handle business setbacks better and faster.

At this point in my career, I can safely say that I'm a pro at dealing with setbacks because I've had so many in my life - both business and personal.  As I faced numerous setbacks, I have perfected a way to handle them better without forcing myself to believe everything is OK.

How to Niche Down Your Services When Your Business Has So Much to Offer Pt. 1: The Fine Dining Menu Strategy

How to Niche Down Your Services When Your Business Has So Much to Offer Pt. 1: The Fine Dining Menu Strategy

Who says you can’t learn anything by just watching Netflix?  You can.  If you pay attention, that is.


The Netflix series, Chef's Table, is a secret obsession of mine.

The show is about the stories of highly regarded fine dining chefs who take you through their journey by candidly sharing their anguish, failures, creative process, adversity, breakthroughs, desire, resistance, recognition, and perfecting their craft as a chef as well as a business owner by finding their own voices through food.

No Budget? No Problem: The Magic Blueprint to Overcome "No Budget" Objections with Confidence

No Budget? No Problem: The Magic Blueprint to Overcome "No Budget" Objections with Confidence

This topic popped up when I was leading a strategy session with a video production duo the other day. 

They were feeling puzzled and slightly defeated.  I empathized as I knew these guys have been gun-ho about going after new leads to create more opportunities for their business.

Good news is, this is something you can fix. Here, I'm going to show you how to tackle “no budget” objections.  In a way, THIS IS THE GREATEST INDICATOR that you need to revisit your outreach strategy. You are lucky to face this problem (that you can totally fix.) So, read on.

The One Task These Leading Entrepreneurs Will Not Delegate or Automate: A Quick Guide to Deciding Which Tasks NOT to Delegate or Automate (and What You Can Do Instead to Leverage Your Time.)

The One Task These Leading Entrepreneurs Will Not Delegate or Automate: A Quick Guide to Deciding Which Tasks NOT to Delegate or Automate (and What You Can Do Instead to Leverage Your Time.)

"Delegation & automation" is a hot topic among business owners who are on the hunt to find ways to leverage their resources to grow their businesses without killing themselves in the process. 

The challenge is to do this process right.  Why do I know it's a challenge?  I know this because I get, frankly, underwhelming emails on daily basis as a result of doing this process all wrong.

Getting it wrong is one thing but losing opportunities by doing something else is another matter.  Might as well, don't do anything, right?

Recap: “The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business” – The Secrets to Building a Million-Dollar, One-Person Business Revealed!

Recap: “The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business” – The Secrets to Building a Million-Dollar, One-Person Business Revealed!

There's a new breed of entrepreneurs who are ruthlessly focused on delighting their customers while pursuing their ultimate goal of having freedom and generating 7 figure gross annual revenues without being tied down to managing full-time employees.

 

How do they do it? 

What are their secrets?

What's the catch?

 

How to Show Up Like a True Entrepreneur: Working ON (Not IN) Your Business Made Easy with 5 Growth Drivers

How to Show Up Like a True Entrepreneur: Working ON (Not IN) Your Business Made Easy with 5 Growth Drivers

You, as an entrepreneur, recognize the importance of working ON your business and not IN it.  But, how often do you end up pushing this vital task aside because of your day-to-day (a.k.a. putting-out-fires) hands-on tasks?

“Too often” would be the most common answer to this question.

Let’s face it: We all tend to blame on getting caught up on imminent but unimportant tasks (in the big scheme of things) for not keeping up with our big vision sessions that can act as a leverage to grow your business exponentially. The truth is, that is not the real hold-up. 

What’s standing in our way is not having a robust and sustainable system that we can stick with.

Days of No Wins: How to Defy Your Emotional Gravity and Stay Productive.

[Fact] Every entrepreneur experiences "Days of No Wins" on a regular basis. In this post, I will share my 3 tips for making those days meaningful and reveal the reason why I don't look for small wins.
 

Seeds have been planted.  This is the point of no return.   Leading up to that point, you have mapped out your strategy, your intention was clear, you poured yourself into it, and you went for it. All in.

Now what?

How to avoid FOMO by Creating Bold Themes that Ground You

How to avoid FOMO by Creating Bold Themes that Ground You

My biggest take away this year was how effectively creating clear themes helped me to stay on the right path. 

It had a tremendous impact as I managed to avoid chaos and FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) often triggered by hot new trends and crazy sounding success stories from the online world.

In our head, we all know that we should not get side-tracked by the noise coming from social media posts and relentless ads full of ridiculous success stories. But, let's face it; it is so hard not to get sucked down the rabbit hole. It's because those are designed to tap into your emotions.

Is Being a Generalist Bad as an Entrepreneur?

Is Being a Generalist Bad as an Entrepreneur?

If you ask me, my answer will always be, "Absolutely not."  Being a generalist is a must-have requirement for all entrepreneurs.

That’s the answer to the question.  As much as I just want to finish this post right here (as I tend to look for excuses not to write), I know I need to explain, not only how to become a good generalist, but also why it is important to be one. I will do exactly that. So, stay with me. 

Recap: Battle-Tested Tips to Create Explosive Growth in your eCommerce Business

Recap: Battle-Tested Tips to Create Explosive Growth in your eCommerce Business

Here are the take-aways from my June 19th fireside chat with Tai Odunsi (Wizker.com), to discuss his entrepreneurial journey as an eCommerce brand owner.

We experienced a massive tropical rain storm in NYC, that night. As my luck would have it, it was the biggest one yet this summer. Still, there were plenty of eager attendees who braved through the storm to witness firsthand the testimony of an author turned into an owner of a product-based brand. It turned out to be a very intimate, and special event.

10 Leads in 10 Weeks Challenge: Sales 101 for Creative Entrepreneurs Who Hate Sales

10 Leads in 10 Weeks Challenge: Sales 101 for Creative Entrepreneurs Who Hate Sales

In my previous post, I wrote about how to take the entire December off without feeling guilty (and having battle plan for January) by start planning for it in late summer. The whole point of this idea was to accentuate the importance of understanding what your top three must-accomplish projects are for your business. (You can revisit that post here.)

Now in early September, we only have 10 solid weeks left this year, not including the time after Thanksgiving week. That’s right, just 10 weeks!

How to Take the Entire December Off: A Guilt-Free Method for Service-Based Entrepreneurs

For many, December is sort of a wash in terms of operating a business. When I was in the music business many years ago, getting the last two weeks off in December was a “given,” and I don’t quite recall what I was doing during the first 2 weeks of December other than cleaning out my office and going to holiday parties or hosting one for the label I worked for.  I’m sure those holiday parties did not help in sharpening my memory… Those darn parties…

As an entrepreneur, though, it is incredibly difficult to draw a clear line to be able to say to oneself, “Okay, since no one is really working, I’m turning everything off in December.” In your mind, there is always something to do, and there is always something to fix.

Master This and You'll Never Have to Chase Prospects Again.

Master This and You'll Never Have to Chase Prospects Again.

Recently, I was very fortunate to have Pia Silva as the guest for my live event in NYC (www.meetup.com/GrowthDrivenEntrepreneursWorldwide) to celebrate the release of her book, "Badass Your Brand - The Impatient Entrepreneur’s Guide to Turning Expertise into Profit."  The whole room was energized after the interview, and we all had a blast! 

Among all the value bombs Pia dropped, I handpicked a few major takeaways to share in this post so that you can apply them to your own business or side hustle projects.

Fed Up with Your Bookkeeper? The Reason May Mot Be What You Think.

Fed Up with Your Bookkeeper? The Reason May Mot Be What You Think.

If you are frustrated with your bookkeeper, most likely it is the sign your business has outgrown your current set up.  It is quite common for 7 figure business owners to continuously focus only on acquiring talent to carry out their core business to keep the momentum going for rapid growth because it is an intuitive move.  As a result, they overlook the backbone of their business such as Finance, HR and Operations to support growth.  

Here is the bottom line:  7 figure businesses with more than 6 or so full-time employees and with a physical office should have a full-time finance person at a minimum, not a part-time bookkeeper especially if you don’t have an accounting/finance background.  In other words, your frustration towards your bookkeeper is misplaced.