Business is hard. Every week (or every day) there’s a new challenge to handle: team reshuffling, budget strains, market shifts… The list of possible disruptions is endless.
But that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.
The times are never easy, and neither is running a business. Even in the most prosperous economic stretches, whenever those have historically happened, running a business was still hard. That’s simply the nature of it.
There’s a reason there are no books or courses out there that promise you that running a business becomes easy if you simply follow some simple steps. If you want someone else to deal with all the headaches of it, you should work for that person. But if you want to lead your own law firm, you’d better get comfortable with the uncomfortable, because it isn’t going anywhere.
Every day you’re running a business, you’re inside the arena, competing against thousands of people who also want to be their own boss, amplify their content, provide for their teams, get exposure, and land more cases. It’s survival of the fittest. Does that sound like something that could ever be easy?
The only way to make yourself more resilient and fit enough to survive is by withstanding it. Simple as that.
Think of it this way: You can try reading about ice skating. Check out books from the library. Watch online tutorials. Talk to coaches and experts. But the only way you’ll get good at it is by grabbing a pair of skates and heading to the nearest rink.
It’s the same thing with business. If you want to have tough skin, you’ve got to welcome the situations that thicken it up. Not think about it, not imagine it, but actually go through it and persist.
That happens not just with you but with your team as well. You want a strong team around you? You have to actively put them through adversity with you and see who comes out the other side.
We’ve hosted eight huge Summits (and counting), and the events team working with us now is the same one we worked with during our first. I realized that was because we’ve been through the thick of it together. We’ve gone into the foxhole and come out the other side, better and as one. As a result, not only do we feel up to handling tough tasks, but we have a bond and loyalty that isn’t easy to come by in business.
So if you want to be more resilient and create more resilient teams, don’t dodge the draft. Go to war together. And then the next one, and the one after that.
This approach won’t be for everyone. If you have experienced some version of this and realize that type of life isn’t for you, that’s okay. Entrepreneurship is not a path everyone is meant to follow, and you’re not better or worse for it.
But if you want to stick it out no matter what — if working for yourself is the only way is the only path for you, regardless of its downsides — then you have to remember that muscles don’t develop from lifting easy weights. Tough situations and adversities are those tough-to-lift weights that hurt you, put you in pain, and ultimately make you stronger.
And it’s up to you whether you stay, suffer, and build up the muscle that equips you to handle them with ease…or put down the weights and walk away.
Either is okay to choose.
Only one leads to long-term entrepreneurial success and resilience.
