April 2012

I say it too often, but it’s only because I love it so…and because it’s profound. And because it’s more often than not, true!

“Everything is hard until it’s easy.”

Small business owners sometimes find themselves believing that everything is hard, if not impossible. They can easily fall into the trap of believing that it’s just how things are. Despair creeps in when an entrepreneur can’t seem to find a solution.

Enter the word, pivot. When what we’re doing doesn’t work, then pivot, change, do something different.

That’s not always the best solution though. Sometimes our business is on the right track, we’re just misusing the whip on the horse. Or we’re holding the bridle too tightly. Or we’ve got our heels hitting the horse, making him uncomfortable. And slower.

I tend to encounter a handful of issues that slow down small businesses who employ me to help them sort through the maze as they try to fix what ails them. It often results in a sense of overwhelming emotions, the impulse that screams, “We’ll never get all this fixed.”

In my experience, the truth is that many of these problems can be more easily solved than the owner thinks. The hardest part can sometimes be convincing the business owner that a fix is possible. And that it doesn’t require blowing up the joint.

Make no mistake, it is hard. Very hard. But once we come to terms with the reality of our problems, then we can more easily (and clearly) see the possible solutions. Then it gets easier. Not easy, but easier.

Once we determine we’re going to fix what ails us, and we embrace our own tenacity to make it so – that’s when it starts to get easy!