If Times Are Tough — Don’t Hide. Be Present.
Being Honest Is The Key
When times get tough, many businesses hide. They go into hiding, as it were. Then they claim that the reason for their lack of success is a bad economy or something else.
The problem with this strategy is that you lose your visibility and reputation as soon as you hide.
You lose the trust of your customer base and clients. They won’t know where to find you when things get good again.
At the same time, it’s even harder to recover from this type of behavior than from just sitting back and waiting for things to turn around. So, what can you do about it?
The Solution
First of all, recognize it for what it is — a form of hiding that will likely lead to long-term problems if you do not take some positive action to correct things before becoming permanent.
And the first thing you need to do is to stop hiding and start being present again!
That means reaching out to key people in your network, informing them about what’s going on in your business, and asking them how they think things might change in the future based on their experience with similar situations in other industries or fields.
Please do this before you even ask them for help.
The reason for this is simple — you want to get them on your side and to feel good about you before you ask them for help because they might feel bad if they do not have anything constructive to say about the situation.
If you reach out first, they are more likely to be helpful because they see that you want their advice and that you are not just asking them for help — which, in itself, is a sign that things are not going well.
Also, let people know that any constructive criticism will be welcome and that even if things do turn around in the future, it might take some time, and they should not expect things to go back to where they were before the downturn.
The key is honesty.
If you hide or pretend things are better than they really are, it’s going to hurt your credibility long-term.
Even though it might seem like a good idea at first, it’s really not — because the only way out of this situation is being authentic with people and being honest with yourself about where things stand right now.
One final piece of advice — don’t go into hiding just because your competitors seem to be doing so or because you think it makes you look better. If you do, you’ll lose more than you gain in the long run.
About the Author
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies (www.cudy.co), a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces, and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
You can connect with me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlhk) and let me know that you are a reader of my Medium posts in your invitation message.
