When you start a business you get caught up in the excitement of launching products or services, meeting new connections, and attracting your ideal audience. Digging deep to find your resilient nature doesn’t seem as important at this stage.
However, resilience is a vital core value for every entrepreneur at all stages of your business journey.
There is so much going on in the world right now that is out of your control. The cost of living crisis, rise in petrol prices, and global conflict fills your social media feeds daily.
The uncertainty that surrounds you can leave you feeling anxious about the future of your business.
- Will people have enough money to buy from me?
- Will I need to review my prices?
- Can my business survive?
Many business owners had to become resilient during the pandemic. They soaked up the stress of closing or adapting their offerings, and learned how to build their confidence again, and find alternative solutions. I don’t think any of us thought we would need to respond to even more disruption so soon!
Building self-resilience
No matter how good your website is, or how many processes, procedures, and digital platforms you have set up for your business, resilience will always start with you.
You need to feel equipped to face and meet any challenges by learning how to manage stress and operate from a place of positivity.
Self-resilience means finding a holistic way to deal with those issues, changes, and challenges that impact your business, from a flooded shop to another global pandemic.
Building your resilience provides you with more than just a coping mechanism. It will also improve your interpersonal skills, engage your mindset to become a thought leader, help you feel safer and more in control, and create a successful business.
“No matter how you define success, you will need to be resilient, empowered, authentic, and limber to get there.” – Joanie Connell
How do you develop your resilience?
- Write something you are grateful for in your journal every day
- Make self-care a priority
- Take every challenge as a lesson so you can grow as an entrepreneur
- Stay connected and use the Woman Who Community for support and guidance
Once you have mastered your self-resilience you can use your skills to be resilient in business too.
Business in review
Forward planning and risk assessments are a great way to build resilience as a business owner. These procedures allow you to ‘expect the unexpected’ and plan accordingly.
Let’s look at a few things you can review in your business to help:
- Target audience – has this changed over recent years or months? Are your clients looking for a different way of working? Do they need alternative products or services? In the current climate, it is harder than ever to predict what your audience will want, which makes it all the more important to dig deep into their customer journey.
What is driving your client to buy? What do they need at the moment that might have changed recently?
- Revisit your core values – if the world has changed for your audience then it will also have changed for you. Have your core values changed? Does your way of working need to reflect these values to help you build your resilience? Is there something in your business that is no longer working? Change requires resilience, but resisting those changes can make you feel uncomfortable for a short period of time.
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” – Sheryl Sandberg
- Prioritise your well-being – it’s no good being in a constant state of fight or flight. Resilience is a good thing as it helps you to manage stressful situations, plan for the unforeseen, and keep growing in a personal and professional capacity. However, if you are forcing yourself to be resilient instead of finding the right support, you are risking your mental and physical health.
Being resilient in business is a multi-faceted process. If you are able to build and maintain your ability to thrive as well as survive it opens up opportunities and business success.
The Woman Who Achieves Academy and larger network community is built on the foundations of networking, learning, inspiring, and celebrating women in business. Resilience is one of the many themes we cover to help our members build stronger businesses.
“Since becoming a member of the Woman Who Achieves Academy, I’ve built some fabulous relationships and gained valuable business knowledge and skills through attending the weekly and monthly networking events. I’ve got the opportunity to share my story in the next Woman Who book and became a Finalist in the Solopreneur awards.
None of this would’ve happened had I not made a decision to invest in my personal development.
I can highly recommend the membership which is a one off lifetime investment which allows you to grow, develop and achieve business success with like minded women and learn from Sandra’s personal experience which is incredible.” – Claire Cahill, Confidence & Leadership Coach, Accendo Coaching, Woman Who Ambassador
Sheffield Re-launch and Solopreneur Awards 2023
Each month Woman Who hosts the Woman Who Inspires Network, tickets for the Sheffield Re-launch are live.
With Woman Who events, there will be networking, inspirational speakers, and learning with this month’s theme, Resilience Plus, you can hear all about the categories and how to enter the Solopreneur Awards 2023.
In business, we need to network to increase our contacts and our pipeline of work for the future. Whether you network online or in person, you’ll be able to share your networking tips and learn new ones.
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