GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: This was their finest hour

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

“Do not let us speak of darker days, let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not darker days, these are great days, the greatest days our country has ever lived.” – Winston Churchill

The great orator was talking about the bombing of London when he said these words. A time, far more serious and scarier even than what we are going through at this time. But instead of talking of gloom and doom he was talking instead of greatness, the greatness it takes to not only endure but also strive to thrive in serious and dangerous days, like the ones we are experiencing right now.

Dangerous times do make great times. Perilous times tend to force people to find the greatness in themselves.

And then there is this quote from Churchill, “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”

Yes, we are in one of those times. Times when we are all facing challenges. The interesting thing is that this time the enemy is not some other guy, some other country, no this time we are all on the same playing field, globally we are all facing this challenge.

If you, at any time in your life wondered how you would have reacted in a dangerous situation. If you have read books, or watched movies, or heard stories of brave men and women doing great, and courageous deeds of heroism and wondered how you would have reacted in the same situation. If you would have literally risen to the occasion and faced that same danger the same way these people did, then this is your time to find out. Your time to learn what stuff you are made of. This is your time to rise above the fray and show your courage, your strength, your endurance in the eye of the storm and stand up to the challenge.

I know how hard things are for people with small businesses right now. Your restaurant is closed so you have been reduced to take-out service. If you are a contractor, jobs are being postponed or even cancelled as customers are in lock down and are not comfortable with you being in their homes. Retail business have reduced hours. Things look bleak right now, but we have to keep on keeping on if we are going to not only just survive but thrive doing these times.

So, during the next few weeks we will be addressing these issues and helping you to find ways to survive and maybe even grow your business during these trying times:

Here are three strategies to get your started:

Contractors: because many buildings are empty right now, municipal buildings, office buildings, public buildings this is a good time for you to go into these buildings and work on projects. Market your company as someone who could do some painting, or flooring, or wiring while these buildings are empty.

Retail stores: Offer special sales. Offer door pick-up or better yet delivery. If you have a website use that for communications, advertising and payment collection. If not, then take ten minutes and set up a Facebook account to do the same thing. Or there is always the USPS.

Landscapers: You have it better than most since you work outdoors. Offer special early bird specials. Early spring clean-up, anything that will help keep your team employed.

And finally, find a way to keep your spirits up. As I said earlier, this is our time, our generation will be judged by how we dealt with this situation. We will be remembered for what we did when the world was at a crisis point and how in the end, we came out of it better, better people, better companies, better countries and a better world.

I’ll leave you now with another quote from Sir Winston Churchill, “Let us therefore embrace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

Stay safe.

Note: I have put together a short plan of ideas on how to keep your business going through these hard times. If you want a copy email me at danbbeaulieu@aol.com or call me at 207-649-0879.