Grappling with change

The only thing constant is change. As a small business owner, you know this well. Navigating the ups and downs of sales and marketing trends, hiring employees or letting them go, adjusting your business expertise to match the marketplace. Change is inevitable.

Predictable change

There are some changes you can anticipate, control and prepare for. You may know your product sales will jump during the holidays. You can predict a seasonal spike in sales and be ready with more inventory, increased employee hours, etc.

You can also be the driver of change. You can take a new direction with your business, plan for business growth, or decide it is time for ownership succession or a business sale. You can map out a specific management timeline and take a series of steps over weeks (or even years) to manage the change.

Unexpected change

Then there are the changes that happen suddenly and are completely out of your control. With the coronavirus pandemic and its related public health orders and business closures, you (like many others) may be scrambling to address the impacts on your business while also dealing with the effects to your personal life. You may be feeling out of control and anxious and perhaps at a loss for what to do next.

Here are some simple yet effective strategies that may help during this unprecedented time.

• Acknowledge your fears. Think about your fears and write them down. Some of your fears may lose their power once you face them straight on. Recognizing them could lead to ideas for how to deal with them.
• Seek support. Reach out to others — friends, colleagues, advisors — who can remind you that you are not alone. They can be there for you with support, empathy and accountability. They may be able to give you a different perspective to help illuminate a path forward.
• Be here now. Mindfulness meditation (even for just a few minutes a day) and other awareness practices can help you relax and stay calm. Meditation can help you focus on the present moment and make mental and emotional space for new insights and perspecive.
• Remember the past. You have never experienced something like the coronavirus pandemic before. But the way you dealt with past challenges may help you get through this one. What helped in past difficult situations? Did you get support from friends, spend time on self care, actively tackle the problem a little bit at a time each day? Tap into an old practice that worked.
• Keep moving. Sometimes the easiest first step is just to put one foot in front of the other. Focus on what you love. Focus on concrete tasks. What you accomplish each day, even if small, will help you deal with the challenge at hand.

Above all, remember to be patient with yourself. Give yourself the permission to wait for solutions to come. You will get through this. We will get through this together.