Show notes
Change is coming... because change is always coming. And we need to try to stay ahead of it. And we're not always going to be able to do that. But we do have the ability to anticipate things that could potentially happen in the not too distant future and say, okay, if this happens, then what am I going to do? How am I going to adapt to that?
David: Hi, and welcome back. In today's episode, co host Jay McFarland and I will be discussing the topic, Change is Coming. Don't Make it Harder. Welcome back, Jay.
Jay: It's good to be here, David. Change is hard. Change is not easy in life, in business. We like comfort zones. We like to get in a groove. And I am the first to admit it. If I could find a way to not have to change in business and just cruise, I'm not opposed to just cruising.
David: Yeah, well, status quo can certainly be comfortable until it's not, right? It's very comfortable until it's not. And when I say change is coming, I mean, so much of what we've been hearing lately is about all the potential changes that could be coming. And regardless, and I'm not going to get into politics ever at all on this podcast, but regardless of the outcome, there is going to be change coming, because it always does.
It's the nature of life. It's the nature of business. Change is always coming. And so, When we try to fight it, when we try to avoid it, we make things harder on ourselves, right? The change is going to come. Now, we're going to have to change our approach very likely.
We're going to have to do things differently. We're going to have to plan differently. There are all types of things that we are actually going to have to do. But if we focus on that, rather than the indignity of the fact that change is coming, we make it a lot easier on ourselves.
Jay: Yeah, you're exactly right.
I think about a change that we all had to go through, and that's the pandemic. And how that was all a change that we wondered if we were going to survive. It was going to destroy our businesses, our workplaces, our way of life, everything. You think about, we're home office now. And we're going to stay that way.
And if you had asked me before the pandemic, I would have said, no, that wouldn't work. I look at my friends in the restaurant industry who pivoted to drive through only, and when the time came back to open up their dining rooms, they didn't want to do it. They really liked the drive thru model or the delivery model so sometimes being forced to change and being ready to change.
You're going to discover, things that you would have ruled out otherwise, and you're going to be better for it, ideally.
David: No question. That exact example, there's a restaurant that we go to in our area a lot, and when the pandemic came and you were no longer able to go into the restaurants, they started a pickup service.
And it had never occurred to us to pick up from that restaurant before. We always went in, sat down, enjoyed the meal, and that was it. But after a while, you're like, well, I could really use some of that food. We don't feel like cooking. Okay, I'm going to give it a try. I'll go pick it up. And all of a sudden, that door was open for us as well.
And so after you were able to go back into the restaurant, there were still a lot of times, and there are times now where we'll still pick things up and bring it home because now we know that it's possible. So what it gave them is a new revenue stream, right? At the time they had a new revenue stream, but they didn't have their primary revenue stream. So they were hurting.
But then after things opened up again, they got the regular business back and now they have this takeout service that people are using more and more, it actually allows things to grow. So it's a perfect example why our topic is so appropriate.
Change is coming. Change is inevitable. It's happening all the time. And the more we resist reality, the more problems we have.
Jay: Yeah, and I think we mentioned this in the last podcast that those who are prepared to pivot, those who are prepared to face the new challenge head on and say, what can I learn from this? How is this going to make us better? How do we survive it? Obviously, that's the 1st thing.
Those are the businesses that will survive, hopefully. Sometimes, after all you can do, it's all you can do, right? But, so often, it's the ones who are agile. They're the ones that improve and survive.
David: Yeah, and any business that is likely to be in business for the foreseeable future has to be able to do that.
They have to figure out how to do that because there is always change. There are always challenges. We can't always see what they are. In fact, probably most of the time, we don't know. Something comes up, we've never dealt with it before, and we have to figure it out. Life in business is a little like a game of whack a mole.
You know, there's always something that pops up, and you have to try to smack that one down before the next one pops up. It's such a great analogy. And once again, just going back to the primary idea that if we complain about the fact that there are always moles popping up on our whack a mole table, we're losing sight of the fact that this is the game we're playing.
This is the game we've chosen, this game of business, being in business for ourselves or operating in sales in a business, being an entrepreneur, all of these things, this is baked into the cake. So once again, the more we resist reality, the worse off we're going to be.
Jay: Yeah, I like the idea that you're calling it a game.
I mean, if you are excited about it, like, you know, it takes a visionary sometimes, not all business people are visionaries, but if you are a visionary and you are looking at market trends and you're watching the news. You said you didn't want to get into politics, but there are things in politics that may directly affect your business model.
They may affect the entire country's business. So, local, national, being aware of it can be important and looking to seize the moment, right? Okay, I see this. I'm going to jump on this or I'm going to...
You know, our whole business that we set up right now is based upon something that we saw. And we're like, nobody is providing that. Let's jump on it. If we had jumped before we jumped, we would have not made it. If we had jumped later, we won't be able to compete. So timing, luck, you know, all of those things are involved, but just having an awareness and having, I think, an attitude.
Right? Attitude is a lot of what we're talking about.
David: Yeah. And the reason that I even mentioned politics at all in this podcast is that right now half the country feels that it's going to be disastrous if something happens, and the other half of the country feels it's going to be disastrous if something else happens. And everybody's going to have to adapt to whatever happens.
That's my point with all this.
Jay: Yes.
David: And you know, vote and pray, right? If you're a praying person, pray. Definitely vote, right? Do those things. But as a business owner, you've got to focus on the reality of the situation, whatever that turns out to be, however unhappy any of us are with the result that happens, we still have to move forward, right?
We've got to live to see another day. And the only way that happens is if we remain focused enough on the reality of the situation and what we need to do personally, accepting personal responsibility, to determine what happens next for us.
Jay: Yeah, and I don't think you can do that if you're just using the squeaky wheel gets the grease management style, right?
If you're just always putting out fires, how can you see what's coming? How can you prepare for the future? And I think that that is the nature, especially for new businesses, but I think for small businesses in general, it's tough because sometimes you may be a one person business, a three person business, you know, it can be difficult, but somehow you've got to get control on that.
That's why I love these podcasts and what you do, you're always providing people with ways that they can manage those types of things, so that you can look down the road a little bit. If you're putting out fires all the time, you're not looking down the road at all.
David: Right. And we need to try to stay ahead of it. And we're not always going to be able to do that. But we do have the ability to anticipate things that could potentially happen in the not too distant future and say, okay, if this happens, then what am I going to do? How am I going to adapt to that?
How am I going to pivot? As you said, right? You don't want to have to wait until it's upon you and then you have to figure out what you're doing. You need to plan in advance, think ahead. All right, what do I need to do now, today? What can I do now, today, to start to get ahead of those types of things.
Jay: Yeah, the last thing you can do, and this is my tendency, is to just put my head in the sand and say, "Oh, it will pass," right? It'll pass, I just have to hold on long enough. Sometimes that's true, right? Sometimes that's true. But a lot of times when you do that, your competitors are not going to be doing that and you're gonna get passed, right?
While you're hoping for it to pass. And so, that's probably not the best approach.
David: Yeah. You have to live long enough, right, to see it pass. And most of the time, most of us do, but it depends. Some things take longer times than others to recover. And if you're just waiting for it to pass and you're not planning alternatives for what you're going to do and how you're going to do it and who you're going to approach and how you're going to approach them and what you're going to say and how you're going to say it...
if you're not doing those things in the moment,