The Ebb and Flow of Life
Starting a business and nurturing it is not easy, especially when you need it to do well to survive. The first few years can be an emotional rollercoaster. At times (especially with seasonal products and services) we do really well and start browsing the internet for prices on the car of our dreams. But then we go through a down period and the longer that lasts the more depressed we become.
This post is to encourage you to push through this natural phenomenon that we experience in business and life in general – an ebb and flow.
Life is a lot like the stock market. One day it’s up, and on another day it’s down. The people who win at the game of life are the same people who win at the game of investing, and they’re the same people who win in business: They keep a cool head in the midst of the up and the down; they don’t let their emotions call the shots.
The stock market is a perfect example of how, when things are going well, we tend to think things will always be this way, and our decisions follow this incorrect assumption. The same in business; when things go well, we think the business has taken off and our troubles are behind us, so we don’t need to save money in preparation for the next inevitable down cycle.
The key is to be aware that almost everything in life works in cycles. Our task is not to prevent the down cycle, it’s to make sure that, just like the stock market, over the long term our life goes in a general upward trend. It’s like Tony Robbins says, just make sure you’re making more good decisions than bad decisions, you don’t always have to make the correct decision.
The cool thing about being aware of the ebb and flow in life is that it acts as a chill pill so you don’t stress. This allows you to think clearly and take advantage of the quiet period and focus on being ready for the next up cycle.
With Brothers in Beat, for the past two years we’ve had a down cycle in June. Perhaps it’s because many companies have financial year end at that time, who knows [update: June 2010 saw a 795% jump in turnover. Attributed to the 2010 Soccer World Cup held in South Africa]. It’s just reassuring when the inevitable flow comes back by the end of June and grows into a torrent heading toward the end of the year with year-end functions etc.
Something to keep in mind with statistics, is that if you want to increase the precision of a result, you have to increase the sample size. So the longer you are in business, the more you’ll know what’s a normal down cycle and what’s an abnormal down trend.
I think that’s why older people seem to have the ability to relax when younger people freak out. They’ve been through enough cycles – their sample size is large enough – to know it always gets better. It actually feels great when you can be in the middle of a down cycle and just not be worried. It’s a sign of maturity.
So in summary, remember something that has helped me through my greatest hell on earth: No matter how bad things seem now, they always get better. It doesn’t mean your business will make it, it doesn’t mean you relationship will be repaired, it means you will, sooner or later, get back to the place where the world makes sense and you’re happy again.
Just push through!