I’m looking forward to achieving new goals with fresh energy. This is a time for new beginnings and creative thinking.

When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills. –Chinese proverb.

The picture above is an acroyoga (acrobatics and yoga) pose and was taken by Tyler Blank, a good friend of my daughter’s.  How appropriate for this year’s business environment. Have you turned yourself and your business into a ‘wall’ or a ‘windmill?’ Are you fighting the ‘wind’ or harnessing it and turning it into your own advantage? (Keep reading to learn about the Magnified Marketing program that can help you harness the ‘winds of change’ and two success stories of people who’ve used it. Also, a free teleconference on January 8th to learn more. Register here)

After all, you have a choice.
You are creating your destiny by the choices you make now. If you build a ‘wall’ (scale back, layoffs, reduced marketing, no innovation), then you’re giving in to your fear of uncertainty. If you’re building a ‘windmill’, you’re:
-thinking creatively and strategically about how to make lemonade from any lemons in your path, -using your time to become better at what you do and develop yourself and your staff,
-going after new markets,
-developing new products,
-taking advantage of the opportunities opened up by the ‘wall builders,
-marketing to grab as much market share as possible,
-hiring the best in the industry that the ‘wall builders’ have laid off (after they’ve trained them for you)

Do you know what this symbol is?

This is the Chinese symbol for crisis.
The character on the left means danger. The character on the right means opportunity.

Let’s take some lessons from the Great Depression of the 1930’s. At that time Lawrence Gelb wrangled a free write up on the Chicago American, which sold out his first batch of product. Then he wrangled credit from a bottle manufacturer. Gave credit to wholesalers so they could put product in beauty stores on credit… Sold the resulting company, Clairol (ever heard of them?) for $22.5 million in 1959. That’s over $100 million in today’s dollars.

Chock Full ‘O Nuts founder sold candy on street corner, switched to coffee when a nearby drug store complained, and grew to become major coffee brand.

Good Humor was founded as an attempt to expand ice cream sales by delivering the product to neighborhoods. In the Great Depression, most people fell behind, but others prospered enormously. It always works that way, you know. Vast fields of opportunity lie before you, and some people do take advantage.

It would be a shame to inspire you without giving you tools to actually accomplish becoming a ‘windmill’ to harness the ‘winds of change.’

We offer various group and individual coaching packages, all to help you build your own windmills. Give us a call.