5 Ways To Keep Creating In Uncertain Times

Every day we wake up and the world is a little different. Usually we don’t notice.

Lately, there is no way not to see it.

I’ve talked a lot over the years about getting laid off from my corporate gig in 2009 during the Great Recession. In my very blessed life, it was one of the bigger challenges I faced. I then decided to start a popsicle company in what I thought was the perfect location, but when we found out we needed a far-too-expensive grease trap, that too fell through. 

As I was starting this ice pop business that I had essentially zero knowledge about, I had to wake up each day and figure out what to do. There were zero guides, nobody was interested in taking my calls, and in general, the outlook was very unclear.

The truth is, losing my job & not getting this building were two of the luckiest things that had ever happened to me. This shop might have been a good location, but when the deal fell apart, it forced me to quickly come up with another solution: the pushcarts that I had seen throughout Latin America. Instead of waiting for business to come, we could go anywhere.

Eventually we found success. King of Pops became a well-known cart that then spread to numerous carts in a handful of cities across the south. We were picked up by Whole Foods, we added new products, and we developed a catering business. Instead of figuring things out each day, we re-did the things that worked for us in the past. This is key to scaling a business.

However, if you redo the same things long enough, you forget how to do the thing that was so special to begin with; we forget how to create.

Sure, it’s very scary, but we can take ourselves back to that place.

At this point, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, but here is the strategy I followed in 2010 (with some tweaks to make it more inspiring) that I am almost certain will help lead us through this infinitely unfortunate Coronavirus life interruption.

It goes like this:

1. Wake up each day with a good attitude.

2. Stretch, run, or whatever you like to do to get the blood moving.

3. Look for a need that you are well positioned to help solve - whether it is for 100, 1,000 or 1,000,000.

4. Figure out the 1-3 things that you can complete that day that will move you towards creating that solution.

5. Actually do those things.

 

Eventually, if you don’t stop, you’ll wake up and the seemingly trivial ideas you started with will have turned into something.

Be the best you possible during this unprecedented time. It’ll be something you’ll never forget.

(Here are the ways we are creating again in these uncertain times. Would you consider making a purchase?)