Poetry Can Help You Meet the 5 Big Ever-Present Business Challenges

What Goes
Up Must Come Down

Sir Isaac Newton proved it. David Clayton-Thomas wrote about it in the  “Spinning Wheel” song. BS&T (Blood, Sweat & Tears) and Dame Shirley Bassey covered it in their albums.

How many ups and downs has your business experienced? Since we started our business, we have been through seven ups and downs – oil, banking, real estate, savings and loans, dot.com, Wall Street, and now real estate again. It has caused us to refine and redefine our business at least that many times.

If it’s a part life, it does not make sense just to try to survive this one because another wave is coming. If you own a business, the wave that could take you under could be something global like this “Great Recession” or something unique to you and your business. So be watchful; be prepared.

At the Business Success Center, we have identified five potential challenge areas that are always out there:

1. Economic

2.Environmental

3.Political

4. Social

5.Technological

What’s happening now? We are being hit by all of these all at once or so it seems.

What are people doing? Some are giving up and calling it quits. Some are digging in and just trying to survive  —  to just be able to “stay” in business. The successful ones are looking for ways to thrive.

What do you choose? Give up, give in, or stay in?

How are you coping?

If you can “keep your head” while others are losing theirs, you’re on the right road. It takes confidence and trust in yourself, your staff and especially your good Platinum Profile customers™.

Need some inspiration? Read Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If”.  It’s a litany of actions to take to become a man (or woman). I think it’s also a useful guide on how to have a successful business no matter what is happening in the world outside or inside.

In the end,
it’s your choice

As Kipling says,

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;”

And

“Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;”

And

“If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

“Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!”

You WILL always be a thriver, not just a survivor.

How do you thrive in tough times? Share your experiences. They could help the rest of us when we need a little inspiration.