Managing Personal and Business Crises

Managing Personal and Business Crises

Sean: We have a lot of brands who faced crisis this pandemic. And when we’re talking about crisis, I want to know how do you handle crisis? How do you tell brands? This is how you should react. This is how we should think. This is how we should handle it. These are the first things that we should do. I mean, that’s also being cohesive with your brand. It’s not every day, but we face crisis. How are you cohesive with your branding when facing a crisis, when it’s not something that you face every day?

Jennifer: If you think about it this way, you know how I mentioned positioning, positioning is really critical. In positioning, you can position from lots of different ways. You know, you have price positioning, your product, positioning, you have brand positioning. They intertwine but they are all slightly different right? If you need to pivot, and I know that’s a word again, that has been bounced around quite a lot lately, given the current world climate, but it is very true.

If you need a pivot in your business and do something different, of course you have to have the either A – the fortitude, you know, to be able to do that and the grit to be able to do that and B -able to either produce the new product, you know, that the audience needs or to go into a new market, perhaps.

But if you have a brand that is well aligned and cohesive. You can either shift that and if your audience, so if your audience has changed, let’s say, like I said, their needs, their problems have changed or their needs have changed, and you need to adjust the product that you put out for them. If your brand is well aligned and well connected with your audience, that’s an easy fix, right?

If you need to reposition, it’s easier to do that. If everything is cohesive, because it’s almost like picking up a table and shifting. It’s one piece. Rather than again, if it’s not cohesive and it’s, you know, we’ll give a good metaphor, you know how with a jigsaw puzzle, if you don’t do the jigsaw puzzle on the newspaper and you try to move it off the table, what happens? It falls apart on the real place.

 If you have done it on, you know, maybe a piece of card or a piece of newspaper and you need to shift it and reposition it. Right. And it has that backing. It’s going to move far easier. It’s going to stay together far better. And it allows you then to also very clearly see what it is you need to adjust because you might not only just need to adjust the product that you create or possibly something of that nature, but you may need to make adjustments in your brand because you’ve had to reposition to a new audience, but you’ve had to maybe reposition again, it could be on price or something of that nature.

And if you have a, if your brand is set up as a luxury brand, you might have to make adjustments. But again, if it’s one piece and it’s one unit it’s very easy to see, right? How do I need to make changes? And it’s easy to dive in and to make those changes. Whereas if everything’s a bit of a mess, where do you start?

You know, you’re jumping in and chopping and changing things and you’re not really sure. Is this helping, is this not helping? Is this going to be aligned? Is that not going to be aligned? Because you don’t have that clarity and that cohesion set up from the start. So it is really important.

Yeah. And it’s a helpful tool. It’s a helpful tool. Like I said, for these kinds of times, when you do need to be able to maybe shift quickly.

Sean: I love the jigsaw puzzle analogy. And that, yeah, that’s something you have never seen it that way, that when you need to respond to a certain crisis or you need to adjust something in your brand, you need to pivot somewhere. It’s easier if you have that foundation already built for you.

I want to shift a little to handling personal crises. This is now to personal leadership and personal entrepreneurship. We’re now talking about the founder, leaders, and managers tuning in. You have recently gone through a difficult time and a lot of people actually sink down.

The depths and never return, especially entrepreneurs who are also having a difficult time in business and then facing a crisis at home or in their personal life. How were you able to handle that? There are some life lessons that I’m sure you carry with you right now that would help a lot of people out there that are struggling in the pandemic and during this economic crisis.

Jennifer: Yes. Well, I think myself personally, you know, just to kind of give context, I suppose we had my husband and I work together, so we had started to close the consultancy, but we had closed, I should say. And we’re looking to more taking things online and to more coming from a teaching perspective as to helping people to build a brand and launch it and, you know, strategy and things of that nature.

And we were kind of in the midst of that, I was doing a lot of online learning, different programs and things of that nature trying to figure out how to put all of this together in online space and found really great people. Some really great courses and things of that nature they give across as well.

And kind of during this time, I, myself started to get really bogged down. Very, just starting to feel very bad about me because I felt quite literally if I can’t complete the course, we know where my mind is thinking that I can do this program or I can do X, Y, and Z.

Am I good enough. And all of those thoughts started to creep in and at the same time, my husband in November, 1900 stroke. So he was all of a sudden, within a day, removed from the business. Our whole family dynamic had changed with how we needed to work things and there are business obviously was to was changing.

So in the midst of a pivot, I had to pivot again and then about two and a half months later, I was diagnosed with a really round lymphoma and then about two weeks after that COVID. So, yeah, it was it was a bit of a trying period. I had to go through treatment and everything during that summer, and we had a lot of other issues as well within the household and just kids and, you know, problems that they were having with lockdown and things of that nature that I know many of us were going through.

So in the midst of all kind of all of that context, yes it’s, you know, and I can’t, I can’t lie and say I didn’t toy with the idea of going right to have with us have had enough.

But I think there is in some of us, I, and I do believe this, we have this light, we have this energy that in times like that, that we just need to tap into, you know, am I going to ever be the best leader in the world? Probably not you know, am I ever going to be, you know, maybe, you know, the best speaker or the best? You know, whatever, maybe not.

But one thing I have oodles of is grit. I have grit. And I know for any entrepreneurs out there, if there is one thing that you have to have above everything else, it’s grit. And I think that comes from that light, you know, from that place within, and it’s just grabbing onto that and holding onto it and saying, right, I can, I can do this.

I might not be able to do it in the way that I originally imagined. We might have to pivot, we might have to do things differently, but I can do this, I can fulfill my purpose. And then it’s just been really driven. I suppose to do that. And I think even more so with everything that I went through, because I know that there are so many people out there, like me who have been through maybe not my exact circumstances, but just like you said, I mean, they’ve gone through your pandemic.

Maybe they’ve lost a business. Maybe they’ve had a pivot, you know, like we have completely changed their business. I mean, pretty much start over. They’ve had personal health issues or family or friends, health issues, and it’s a lot, it’s very overwhelming.

But I would say if you can dig deep and just have gratitude as well and I know that word’s bounced around a lot, but have gratitude. And knowing the fact that you’re not alone, there are other people out there who are going through similar situations and that you can get through it. And there’s always going to be people who have gone through more than you.

You know, a lot of people hear my story go, oh my God. Look, everything you through. You’ve been your, so I have nothing to worry about and that’s not the point of me telling my story. No my – the point of me telling my story isn’t to say, well, my story is worse than yours.

Look at everything I went through, but it’s simply to say, you know, the things that I have gone through, I’ve been able to overcome, you know, there was things there’s some things even before that, that I’ve had to overcome that at the time I thought, oh my goodness, this is so hard. How am I ever going to overcome this? I mean, it took me a year to be able to do a Facebook live because of my GAD and, you know, just being autistic. And it was, I found it very, very difficult and then a fear, of this real fear and that was extremely hard for me, but I did it.

I set myself a hundred day challenge and it was on day 85 when my husband had a stroke. So I almost made it, but I had to really, really work at it and have that grit and determination to do hard things. But I’m always grateful for and know that there’s people. Who have been, you know, have it worse than me in business on a personal life, you know?

And there’s always going to be people who maybe from my point of view, have it easier, but life’s about perspective. And if you can keep the perspective that, you know, there’s, like I said, there’s always people worse. There’s always people better off, worse off. But I’m grateful for the things that I have. I’m grateful for where I am at and what I do have at this time.

And then from an entrepreneurial point of view, you know, what are most entrepreneurs about. Most of us now, there are some of us who are just out to make money, but most of us are about what we’re about ideas. It’s about getting our ideas out there and whether it’s just because we’re creators and we’re just, you know, like ideas and we just have to get them up before we explode, or, you know, it’s about maybe having those ideas and the impact that they want to have.

And if we can continue to do that, we should have, we should be grateful in whatever form, right. Because we still are able to fulfill our purpose. And I do believe that in order for us to be an entrepreneur, we have to be driven towards it, because it’s not an easy choice by any means. So it’s just, it’s just sticking with it, you know, sticking with and just having that belief.

Sean: And no one’s great the first time either. So it’s funny because you mentioned you had a bit of a difficult time. It’s not a bit, it’s a hell of a difficult time what you went through. And I think, especially for first-time entrepreneurs, grit is a lot more important than being a good leader, or the best leader or the best speaker or communicator at that.

Grit is even more important than standing up when you fall down, that’s even more important than being a great leader and a great speaker when you’re in the world of entrepreneurship.

Life is hard. I’m sure you would agree. And the sooner people realize and accept that the better you’re able to deal with it.

I haven’t met a pessimistic entrepreneur yet, all entrepreneurs I believe are optimists. But what do you tell people who are in the rabbit hole, you know, in their minds, they’re going into a downward spiral? They feel like they’re a victim of life and they feel helpless. What are some of the things that you tell them?

Jennifer: Number one, I would say to look up. You can’t see the light, if you can, if you’re always looking down at your feet. If you’re always looking down, you’re going to continue to dig down so try and change your perspective.

You know, look up, look at, try and look at things differently. Look at things from a fresh point of view, step back for a week. You know, step away from your business for a week, if you need to, or two weeks, and then come back to it and maybe you’ll have a new, I mean, sometimes it could only be a couple of hours. You step away from something and you come back and you have a different point of view.

I think that’s important, you know, try to look up. I think also, and this, you know, I’m very blunt and very honest, I think you have to – I think there is sometimes no easy way through it. You just have to stick it out. It can be crap at times and it can feel very difficult, but we have to just kind of say to ourselves, right. I can get through this, I can get through this.

 You know, and at the end of the day, nobody’s making you be an entrepreneur and nobody’s making you run your own business. If you feel it is too hard and doesn’t such a situation that you have, because like you said, things and life change, you know, things happen and it’s okay.

It’s okay. If it doesn’t suit you as well, you know, you don’t beat yourself up because it’s not working for, you know, sometimes I think people get into the entrepreneurial space because – a lot of times it’s because it’s, yes, they’re drawn to, but sometimes maybe it’s for other reasons, you know. Or someone has suggested it or maybe they think it would be a good idea to, with the working hours.

They think it’s going to be easy. Well, I can work from home. It’s going to be a gift to anybody who has worked from home, especially with kids will know it’s not easy. You know, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard. Oh, you work from home, not sniff. Great. I’m like, yeah, it’s fantastic. And it is, don’t get me wrong.

You know, it is, it has so many benefits that outweigh the negatives, but there are negatives and it isn’t easy. And you end up working all the hours of the day, especially when you’re starting off. And I think a lot of people are caught off guard by that.

So don’t be afraid and don’t beat yourself up if this isn’t for you. That’s fine.

You know, if it is for you and you, and you’re saying, no, this is what I’m driven to do. I have to see my ideas out there. Look up, change your perspective and just say to yourself, I’m going to get through this. I have to get through this. Yes. There are going to be bad times. But imagine then when things start to get better, how good that’s going to feel. Think forward, look forward and say, right and a year from now, where could I be with this? Where can I be with my business? Where could it be with my brand? What could I be doing? What major impact could I be having? What ideas of mine could be out there? You know, having an impact and inspiring or empowering her, whatever it is that you want to do with your business.

So it’s having that forward thought and that perspective I think.

Sean: That’s awesome.