Some of the most frustrating and discouraging moments in my life have occurred during my many business transitions. The excitement of conceiving and sharing my business idea with others have often lasted for only short periods. What follows during the birthing process itself is as if all hell suddenly breaks loose!
Ours was a trailblazing corporate vision and we had identified our target market and a dynamic marketing strategy. I was full of zeal and zest as I empowered and led my team to storm the market. Our initial target was to gain 50 clients by the end of the first quarter.
Month 1 – News trickling in after the first two weeks sounded absurd to me. Our presentation had been great, our numerous flyers had been disseminated to all our potential clients, but apart from a handful of people who called to make enquiries, not a single client paid for our service!
By my interpretation, that meant upon our outstanding presentation and the applause we received from our potential clients, we had made no impact!!!
Weeks 3 and 4 passed by with the same graveyard-like silence from potential clients. Devastated, I began to understand how politicians feel when after an apparently “successful” political rally, the total votes they receive are just an embarrassing handful!
Month 2 – I called for a strategic meeting to assess what went wrong. The feedback I got stirred up my anger buttons. “WHAT?! They complained that our fees were too high and called for a reduction?!! After we had painfully slashed our fees to those ridiculous rates as part of our promotional strategy? Did they know what the market price was elsewhere for the high quality service we were offering them?!”
Intense discouragement began to set in. This crazy outcome had virtually thrown out of gear every alternative strategy I had in mind! Meanwhile, my teams were looking up to me to direct them on the way forward. I had absolutely no idea what to do next! I felt so helpless and miserable!!
In order to gain some time to do some quick critical thinking, I requested for a brainstorming session from my team and attentively listened to the incoming suggestions and analysis by each person. In the end, I managed to come up with a plan B and encouraged my team that all will be well. However, deep within me, I knew that greater problems confronted us.
Problems that were meant to become the headache of only the business owner. We were low on finances, I had salaries to pay and had no clue where I would get money from if this next strategy failed.
Month 3 – True to form, our plan B failed, together with all the subsequent alternative plans I came up with for us to gain clients. I ended up squeezing money from here and there to pay salaries and keep the company afloat in the interim. Meanwhile, pressure was mounting for me to quickly come up with solutions to salvage this downward trend.
Hmmm, during crisis moments, everyone expects the business owner to wave some magic wand to restore things! No one knows how hard we try just to remain “normal” in the midst of such devastating setbacks, so that we can focus and continue to perform our roles to the best of our abilities. “Tough times never last, but tough people do,” I guess.
Somehow, I have managed to survive and wade through some of the greatest obstacles and frustrations that could drown others, since quitting has never been an option for me in business. How did I do it? Pure grace!!! How about you?
Coming up next week: What has MY worst nightmare been as Business Owner?
