Episode 72 - Evolve

[00:00:00.390] - David Shaw

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to an off the cuff edition of the Getting Ahead podcast felt as though it was probably the right time to probably get back into this, if I'm completely honest with you. But obviously, during these times right now, there's so much to be said and there's lots of questions and lots of advice and generally businesses are worried. And it's kind of a little bit ties into some of the things I've been talking about over the last three, four years, particularly around the book that I published.

[00:00:32.550] - David Shaw

My last book that I published, Evolve or become obsolete. I'm questioning myself as I'm talking in regards to is this the right time to be giving this kind of advice? And I've kind of decided that it is. I know things are tough right now and everyone's rightly concerned about how to make sure they keep the tills ringing and they keep the customers going, the phones ringing and so on and so forth. As far as businesses changing is absolutely evolving.

[00:01:00.240] - David Shaw

And this is the this is why it comes down to your business's ability to be able to pivot, to be able to recognize that the market has shifted. Now, I do appreciate. For many, many small businesses, just keeping going on a on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis is already a challenge. And and so what I'm asking people to do now is start, you know, potentially looking at this as not necessarily a positive, but as absolutely as a lesson and something that definitely needs to be things that need to be considered as we go through this.

[00:01:35.230] - David Shaw

Actually achieving your goals in 2016 - Episode 54Written by David Mark Shaw
March 17, 2020

There is expression Gary Vaynerchuk has said many times, the market is the market, it's the market. And it's it's it's never been truer. You know, the market is tough right now, but it's it's tough for everybody. And that's what we start doing now. We start thinking a little bit differently. We've got to start being a little bit more creating a creative side and start thinking about evolving, start thinking about whether it's systems and processes within your own business.

[00:02:01.860] - David Shaw

And things need to change, whether it's enabling remote working or investing in certain technologies to enable people to work from home or you to be able to deliver your value in another way. Now, it's not necessarily the same for everybody. Not everybody can necessarily deliver something virtually. Maybe you have a physical presence and it requires that. So it's not all about that, but it is about that pivoting is about the evolving and trying to find a different way.

[00:02:30.660]

It might well be that you have to now's the time to launch that side hustle that you've been thinking about for the last two, three years. You need to find another way of generating even more income, new income or additional income, whatever it might well be. But now's the time to act. And it's often in times like this that we're forced into into making these decisions that we've been often sitting on for months, if not years. They say that the the once the pain of change is in is not as great as the pain of the same.

[00:03:04.080] - David Shaw

And that's where we are right now. People are feeling that pain and therefore being forced to make those changes and think a little bit differently. So it is true. We all do need to start thinking a bit more creatively. We do need to think a little bit differently. And we all do need to pull together. There's been so many good pieces of advice that have been floating around. And I think one of the key ones that I came across today was, is we've got to start thinking a little bit bigger picture about each other.

[00:03:34.020] - David Shaw

There are many businesses, particularly those in retail right now, and alot those small businesses that have been so directly affected, whether it's because planes are just not going anywhere, because people aren't out and about where people at home. Now, of course, and I don't want to harp on about this too much. There is opportunity with all of these times, without a doubt and certain industries are thriving. And this is what we need to go back to that local thinking.

[00:03:59.970] - David Shaw

Supermarket chains right now are thriving and these global corporates are raking it in as people are finding money from all kinds of places to go out and spend extravagant amounts of money in Tesco and Aldi in lidle and Asda. all these different global supermarkets. And yet it's those smaller local businesses. It's the bakeries, it's the coffee shops, all of those ones, including estate agents and, you know, and taxies and chauffeur companies and pubs and restaurants. They're the ones that are really struggling.

[00:04:31.650] - David Shaw

And this is why we need to stop thinking a bit outside the box. Can we collaborate? Can people stop thinking about doing other things with what they've got, whether it's because you've now got vehicles that are no longer going to airports? What can you do with those drivers? What can you do with those vehicles? If it's because you're a restaurant, maybe can you start thinking about collaborating with those people and start delivering some of these things? You know, and that's what we've got to start thinking about.

[00:04:55.080] - David Shaw

And don't forget those other local businesses around the ones I've still got their shops open and they still hoping looking at the door. Someone's gonna walk through the door, as they usually were. These people have got bills to pay. They've got mortgages and rents to pay and staff to pay. And that's the other thing is, you know, we don't want to necessarily, you know, don't get into that phase where people starting to have to let people go, But cash flow is king, and that is what's gonna kill small businesses. It's that ability to keep cash coming in. You've really got to, you know, take action today. You know, really tighten those belts up and start thinking creatively and start putting the hours in and do whatever it takes to try and find a way to keep the cash flowing. Keep going, making sure your business survives. We've got to pull together.

[00:05:41.060] - David Shaw

I know the government. I think I'm about to be announcing some some measures around some some short term funding around some business loans to try and keep things going. I advise you to go talk to your accountant. Probably now's the best time ever to talk to your accountant and find ways. Can you restructure financially? Is there anything you can do to get over these next few months and keep your small business flowing and keep, you know, keep surviving, keep, you know, and we can in order to do that, you're going to have to evolve.

[00:06:09.590] - David Shaw

You're going to have to change. You have to get outside of your comfort zone and you're going to have to do things differently. So I certainly don't have all the answers. And I know it's not necessary now's not the time for overly being optimistic about opportunity. And it's not so much about that. This is more about survival. This is about making sure you do evolve. You do pivot. And you do think about doing things in order just to keep going and so on.

[00:06:33.340] - David Shaw

So talk to each other, support each other. Think about those local businesses. Is there anything you can do to put money into a local business instead of a global China? I know there's going to be huge companies that are going to go under as well. I'm not naive enough not to think that. If not people, you know, people stop spending money at Tesco, they won't be in trouble, but they're not right now. You know, there you know, those guys are doing pretty well.

[00:06:55.490] - David Shaw

And I'm sure they're going to find their own challenges in other ways. Staffing, for example, if everyone starts self isolating and they don't have the staff to be able to support each other. That's another challenge for them. But I really do want us to think locally. I do want to think about the small businesses. What can we do just to keep things going and be sensible and support each other? And if I can help in any way, I'm happy to have you know, I can do a call with somebody for 20 minutes or half an hour or so if you think I can't think of a way to generate additional income. By all means. Reach out to me. David@davidmarkshaw.com and I would be more than happy to have a chat with you and see if there's some way between us. We can come up with a creative solution to find another income that might well be doing something completely different in the evenings instead of your day job that you're doing at this moment in time. In order to just find ways doing that, you've got an enormous amount of talent, an enormous amount of skill, and there's things that people will pay for.

[00:07:50.510] - David Shaw

And if we all do start pulling together and finding those things, then I'm sure we can get through this and we can. The truth is, we will get through this. You know, there all could be some casualties in terms of businesses and they would get you know, and he's good. It's going to be tough, but we will get through this. And businesses, you know, will come out the other side of this. And when we do, people are going to start spending again.

[00:08:12.320] - David Shaw

And hopefully there's a real upturn and people see the positivity that comes around the summer that it can be great timing and everyone will feel good again. But right now, let's dig deep. Let's stick together. And by all means, reach out to me. david@davidmarkshaw.com. If I can help in any way in finding a way to help you keep your business going. Come up with some creative ideas and let's let's all work together, guys.

[00:08:33.980] - David Shaw

So that's it for me. And I will hopefully keep recording as many of these as I possibly can and look forward to hearing from you guys to take care.