How to Cope When You Can’t Run Your Business
Some thoughts on moving forward in uncertain times
“Sammy was born to run,” his mother told me in the hospital.
“I always liked running. And I ran with him in my belly for most of my pregnancy. I think that pace is where he’s most happy,” she said, holding back tears.
“He’d run through the house, down the school hallways, and throughout the neighborhood. People were aways telling him to ‘Stop running!’ But you can’t keep someone from doing what they love.”
“That’s why we called him “Sump,” a twist on the relentless cross-country marathon running scenes from the movie Forest Gump.
A Running Dream
By the time Sammy got into high school, he was already the number one runner in his state. And that distinction earned him a track scholarship to college.
All Sammy ever thought about, cared about, or dreamed of was going to the Olympics. That was his game plan, and it looked like he was well on his way to getting there. His coaches believed he had the ideal body type, talent, discipline, and drive to get there.
Once Sammy finished college, he got an invitation to train with the Olympic pros at a summer training program, so off he went to run with the big dogs. But one day after attending an event downtown, he took a step off the curb and was run over by a taxi cab driver texting on his cell phone.
“They left him for dead!” his mother said.
For the next four days, Sammy remained in a coma, unable to move, breathe or feed on his own. Although his doctors tried to stay positive, his condition didn’t look good. The tires had crushed his body and skull in numerous places, causing all kinds of internal bleeding and hemorrhaging. We overheard the nurses in the hallway, saying it would be a miracle if he made it through all this.
But then one morning, Sammy wiggled his toes, and then those restless running feet got wigglier every day.
The Reality
Through a lot of intensive care, patience, and prayer, Sammy slowly pulled out of the coma and came back to life. But he was still a long way off from a full recovery.
In addition to a pile of broken bones and damaged organs, he had a series of problems near his neck, spine, and brain that doctors needed to address next as soon as he was strong enough. But those surgeries came with their own set of risks.
Sammy had already faced the near-death experience from the taxi but now he had to consider another potential threat to life with the upcoming surgeries. Although scared, he always believed in pressing forward, so after much deliberation, he endured a series of operations.
But then something worse than death happened to Sammy.
He made it through the series of operations successfully, but Sammy found out he might not ever run again due to nerve damage in his spine. Sammy had always said he didn’t want to live in this world if he couldn’t run. He saw no purpose in it, but here he was having to contemplate a life without ever running, much less walking normally.
Run over by life
To a much smaller degree, that’s how many business owners and hardworking people feel about the state of our world right now.
Yes! They’re grateful to be alive, but they can’t run their businesses the same way anymore.
Less than six months ago, several of my clients told me they might have their best year on record. But now they’re walking the thin line of bankruptcy.
One of my hardest working clients won the biggest dream commission of her career for a government contract. She’d been chasing after this project for five years. When they told her she’d won the job, she staffed up, bought a lot of expensive equipment, and expanded her facilities in preparation. This accomplishment was her defining Olympic moment. But they canceled that job due to the pandemic, and now her business is hanging on by a shoestring.
Like Sammy in the hospital, it’s touch-and-go every day for her.
Many of my clients have poured their entire life savings—not to mention their blood, sweat, and tears—into building their businesses. But, seemingly out of nowhere, they got run over by the virus and locked out from doing business because of the quarantine and recession.
And the long, slow process of trying to figure how to survive — much less recover from — these calamities rests heavily upon their shoulders. The intricate surgeries they have to perform on their business to keep them alive are grueling to endure. And the daily pain of trying to heal from the wounds these massive budget cuts cause is emotionally draining.
Slivers of hope
Our expectations of life, careers, and businesses have radically changed since the pandemic constrained our lives. Many of us feel unfairly cut down in our prime.
And we’re angry about it.
Several of my clients didn’t think they’d survive the first 60 days of the crisis, much less the next six months. But many of them are still hanging in there. They can walk with help from the government and some relief from the creditors, but they realize they may not be able to run their businesses the same way as before.
Like the doctors, the economic experts have given small businesses in specific sectors — e.g., retail, restaurants, bars, travel, hotels, theaters, festivals, hair and nail salons, massage therapists, fitness gyms, etc. — some slivers of hope that life might come back to normal. However, it’s still uncertain as to when that could happen, if at all.
And nothing drives people crazier than uncertainty.
As humans and entrepreneurs, we rely on having some aspects of certainty in our lives. We like to know and plan for what’s next. Before we can put our homes and lives on the line, we need some level of predictability. But with the looming prospect of a second surge coming, more corporate bankruptcies, higher unemployment rate, social unrest, and political unease, there are just too many unknown variables out there to say for sure what’s ahead.
So we carry around the needles of anxiety, wondering if we’ll ever be back up and running again. The daily headlines terrify us to the point we can’t give our staff or families a sense of certainty or security beyond a few weeks. And some of us have nightmares imagining what our businesses might look like up ahead should the worst predictions come to pass.
As the specter of a second wave looms large, we dread having to go through the possibility of another round of painful cuts. We wonder if we can make it— but we can.
Below all that anxiety and fear, we know we have no other choice but to get up every day and fight the good fight.
Using faith
Eventually, Sammy got out of the hospital, but he faced a long, painful, and grueling recovery. And he knew his physical rehabilitation period would be the most challenging trial of his life. It was embarrassing for him to have previously been one of the fastest runners in the state, but then not be able to walk even six feet across the room without support.
But Sammy worked at rehabilitating himself every day—one baby step at a time.
He’s a religious fellow and told me once,
“What’s the purpose of believing in a higher power if you don’t have faith in the tough times. Believing in the good times is easy, but it’s the hard times where our faith gets tested.”
Sammy was lucky that one of his physical therapists took a particular interest in his recovery. Her name was Adriana. She not only got Sammy walking, but to go on a date in the cafeteria. Not too long after, they’d fall in love, get married, and have a beautiful daughter. Although his dream of running got mowed down, the miracle of love and family blossomed out of this tragedy.
Despite the doctor’s dire predictions, Sammy did end up walking and running again. And much to everyone’s shock, he eventually got back on the track.
After several years of rebuilding his strength, Sammy is now training for another shot at the next Olympics. Is it a longshot? Absolutely! But that doesn’t stop Sammy from pressing forward every day.
When a local reporter asked Sammy why he just doesn’t quit running, he said:
“God put this seed of a dream in my heart for a reason, and it’s still there. I can feel it! And until He tells me to get rid of it, I’m going to keep on running.”
And when they asked him how he keeps his motivation up, he said,
“I don’t worry about how things are going to turn out tomorrow. And I don’t obsess over the “uncertainty” of not knowing how my story ends. Accepting uncertainty is part of the beautiful mystery of life,” he said in calm confidence. “All I focus on is taking one step at a time, and that philosophy has carried me pretty far in life.”
An uncertain world ahead
It’s true. Things look bleak in the world right now. And most of us feel like we got hit by a runaway Mac truck on the way to work. Some of us didn’t even think our businesses could make it this far under the current lockdown, but here we are still.
Although many believe we’re going to survive, we know we won’t be running as we used to, at least not for a while. And that reality is hard to take. We’ve got a lot of rehabilitation work ahead of us and perhaps some more painful decisions ahead to make.
But you can’t let this uncertainty drive you crazy. Although we often delude ourselves into thinking we know what’s ahead—through our business tools of planning, forecasting, and projections—we don’t ever know what’s ahead. Life has always been a surprise. Our efforts to control life just make it more painful. And if we look at it the wrong way, our fear of uncertainty only breeds more anxiety and worry over things we can’t control.
Many forces in the world want you to give up, throw in the towel, align with fear, and lose hope. And if you do that, you will not be in the right position for great things to happen in your life. Now is the time to use your faith and stir your belief that life will work out as it should for you. This is our test!
Take comfort in knowing that the unexpected detours that life throws you can sometimes lead to other opportunities that are unimaginable at this time. Like Sammy finding the love of his life, Adriana, in rehab, and then having a magical daughter, we have to be open to the idea that life has something better in store for us than we planned.
Instead of obsessing over the future, do what Sammy did, and just focus on taking one step at a time each day. That’s all any of us can control right now. And by walking forward every day, you might find yourself back on the track running again. Or you might even find something better.