Entrepreneurs: Is There a Silver Lining to COVID19?

First, and foremost, I hope that all fellow entrepreneurs reading this are hanging in there during this unprecedented and devastating national event. 

It’s one thing to fight the fight with an enemy you can see and battle directly, but it’s another thing to try and fight something completely invisible.  Advantage, for now: COVID19.

A FEELING OF DEJA VU

Though we’ve never seen this kind of global emergency in recent times, it’s given me a strong feeling of Déjà vu.  In many ways, it has the economic hallmark aspects of what I experienced 12 years ago during the 2008 recession disaster.

Some people glided right through it and were largely untouched.   Many others, like myself, lost everything.  Our careers, our homes, our retirement savings.

There are undoubtedly, far-reaching and deadly implications that COVID19 is inevitably going to create this time around, especially in the health realm, that we didn’t see in 2008.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE – THERE IS A SILVER LINING

But, I’d like to offer a message of hope and positivity to you in lieu of all the bad stuff we’re constantly hearing every day.  

You’re reading this blog because you are an entrepreneur at heart, you’ve been dreaming of owning your own business, and may think that COVID19 just took you out of the game. But, keep reading.

Those experiences 12 years ago taught me this: that in the worst of times, despite the pain and loss that I, and many thousands of others, experienced from the last major national crisis, there were just as many positives that ultimately resulted from it. 

In personal terms, it resulted in my finally following my heart and creating my first at-home based business as a downsizing specialist. In all honesty, that would never have happened without my 25-year career in the building industry being unceremoniously ripped out from under me.  

CHANGE VS COMFORT ZONE

Let’s face it!  We like our comfort zones, even if they aren’t really all that comfortable or healthy for us.

Secondly, it forced me to get creative and be truly open to the art of possibility.  To look within and ask myself what it was that I truly wanted in my life? What fulfilled me? How could I create that life with a new business starting from scratch?

Change is maligned and feared because it usually requires us to pay attention to aspects of our life that we’d rather just let slide. It shakes things up and forces us to consider or make choices that we would not willingly or actively do otherwise.  

WHAT’S YOUR OPPORTUNITY HERE?

But, as entrepreneurs, we all have a choice.  We can resist ‘the call’ to recognize an uncomfortable or difficult circumstance or we can look it squarely in the eye, stay open to it and ask “where’s the opportunity here for me as a human being and an entrepreneur?”.  

COVID19 has all the signs that opportunity still exists: for us to grow, to find strengths we never thought we possessed and to look at the world in a new way.

Back then, that meant my acknowledging the reality that my former career had run it’s course. Something else was calling me.  

It was time to start fresh. Ready or not, life had hit the re-set button. 

It had taken away the blocks and ‘what if’s’ of any objections that had previously been keeping me from making a new plan.  

ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS

I asked myself this question.  What did I really want to do with my life if money were no object? (Ah yes….that money thing.  Take it out of the equation and you’ll be surprised at what your heart will tell you.)

It’s usually the primary excuse we tell ourselves when all the other indicators are telling you “Go for it!” in neon lighting. 

At aged 50, money, or lack of it, was certainly at the top of my list of concerns.  I needed income, yes, but I was also at a point in my life where money was not the only consideration.  I’d made good money before and it hadn’t really made me happy.

Instead, I had a stronger desire to make a difference in my community.  I wanted my hard work and effort to mean something, not just to get a paycheck.  Sound familiar?

They say ‘when one door closes, another one opens’.  I believe that’s true, but only if you’re willing to look farther down the hall of life than you were previously willing to.

WHAT CAN COVID 19 TEACH US?

So, what has all that finally got to do with COVID19 and what can it teach us as entrepreneurs?  

It’s a horrible, deadly and disruptive disease event that will forever change the world and the way we process times of crisis.  But, what it will never take away is our ability to empower ourselves or explore potential through choice.    

We have the ability, right here and now, to shift and broaden our personal and business perspective past the obvious if we give it that chance.

For entrepreneurs who are open to it, this can be your ‘Door’ of opportunity to learn how to continue to grow and thrive, even in the worst of circumstances.

What actions can you take right now that will make that business dream a reality, even if they are small steps?

It’s up to us as entrepreneurs to find the hidden opportunities in these difficult times and see the potential in ourselves that we wouldn’t have otherwise recognized. 

For me, the result was the creation of a business that has provided me with more personal and professional growth, more amazing client friendships and joy than I could have ever imagined. 

WHAT IF COVID-19 IS YOUR WAKE-UP CALL?

So, what about you?  You know you want to become an entrepreneur.  What if COVID19 is your wake-up call?  Are you going to answer it or are you going to roll over and hit the snooze button?

COVID19 could be the catalyst that’s meant to move you forward toward the entrepreneurial life you want and deserve.

If senior downsizing is a career that has specifically been calling you, don’t wait.  It’s calling you for a reason. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of seniors and their families that desperately need your compassion and help right now.

Are you curious to know if you’re a good fit for senior downsizing as a career? Check out my ‘Is This Right For You?’ page at https://www.thedownsizinginstitute.com/is-this-right-for-you

I know my Senior Downsizing training program can make a significant difference in helping you make that dream business a reality and I’m working very hard to make it available to you very, very soon.

If you are interested in hearing more about it and haven’t already done so, I invite you to sign up on the Interest List or follow me on The Downsizing Institute’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheDownsizingInstitute/

So, please stay safe and stay healthy!

You’ve got this!

Deborah