I had this phrase put to me recently, and I have to say I
like it. I have been spreading this as a meme, and I thought I’d share a few
ideas with you all on ways of taking on risks.
1) Ring
a supplier and ask for a better deal.
You are probably paying too
much for electricity, internet, phone plans, cloud software services, etc. Try
ringing up and seeing what they can do for you.
I did this yesterday with my
internet provider and they ended up apologising for slow data speeds lately and
recalibrated their connection overnight – meaning that I don’t need to upgrade
plans.
2) Contact
a customer you were always afraid of contacting.
We all have a major customer
that we are afraid of making a mistake with, so we never call them.
This is also known as ‘No one
asks out the pretty girl’. I used this analogy with a smart job-seeker a few
years ago, and instead of using it to find work, he took it on himself to ask
out only the prettiest women, to great success. He even had one lady sobbing as
she said he was the first person to ask her out in four years – but she told
him no anyway. Over the course of six months he kept me up to date with exactly
how accurate the saying is (which I really didn’t need to know as I was still
married at the time.)
I see this kind of thinking
all the time. Smart people who want to work for a multinational but are afraid
of rejection so apply to smaller companies instead and keep the multinational
as a dream.
We all do it, and in business
we often do it in our marketing efforts, ignoring alliances, and in winning new
business. Go out and contact someone when you are afraid of rejection.
3) Ask
someone for suggestions
Whether we are talking about
employees, co-workers, customers, suppliers, your wife or husband, or even your
kids: find a way to ask them what you could be doing better, or what they would
like more of in your relationship. We leave too many things left unsaid.
4) Ask
for a referral
Cold calling is hard and
mostly doesn’t work. So how about asking somebody you know for a referral to a
new customer. Conversely, think about someone you could introduce to one of
your contacts.
5) Take
a day off
We all work too many hours,
all too often sitting at our desks. Take some time off. It could be a simple as
a walk around the block, eating lunch in a scenic park, or just going to work
late after a nice sleep in.
Or you could completely take a
day off. Spend some time with your family, go see a movie, drive to the beach,
play golf, go shopping… whatever… take some time out.
By doing this you are directly
challenging your own stress and anxiety level by proving that the world won’t
come to an end by taking a day off.
Also, by relaxing, we can
reduce our fixation on some areas of our business and are better placed to see
things as a whole.
6) Have
a difficult conversation
Speaking from painful personal
experience, I know that stress comes from your personal life as much as it does
from co-workers, managers, employees, suppliers and customers.
We are all taught to be
professional no matter what the circumstance, but this doesn’t change the fact
that some relationships are just bad.
If you notice a growing
distance in any relationships, an increase in snarkiness in responses, growing
cynicism, delays in response to communication, or any unresolved tension, then
you probably have miscommunication.
We can all avoid conflict at
times, but often the solution is far less stressful than you think.
Go talk to someone, and go
with an open mind and drop the defensiveness. Be prepared to talk about
feelings.
Also, sometimes it is better to have no relationship than a permanently shitty relationship.
7) Put
yourself out of business
This isn’t a new idea. Drucker
has been raving on about this for years.
Look at new ways to do things
that reduce the time and effort to perform your business.
Look at disruptive
technologies.
Look at competitors – figure out
what is actually succeeding for them and ‘be inspired.’
Go look at a few competitor’s
websites today.
Read some industry literature.
Ask contacts in other
industries how they deal with the same problem.
8) Do
something at random
Many business owners are
control freaks of one variety or another. It is good to learn to let go.
Start simply by changing
preferences and routines.
- For example, try a new brand of deodorant or breakfast cereal every time you buy some.
- Try a new store to buy clothes, or a new place to get your haircut.
- Drive to a different shopping centre this week.
- Drink tea instead of coffee, or vice versa.
- Try different restaurants, cafes or takeaways to your normal fare.
- To practice this even further try going somewhere on the weekend by choosing which way to go at an intersection by flipping a coin.
This was taken to its peak by
Dice Man who advocated making decisions by rolling a dice.
This is all about letting go
of things you don’t need to control, busting out of a rut, and reducing
fixation on your business.
9) Take
out a line of credit
We need money to grow. Most
small businesses use personal loans and credit cards to fund their working
capital.
Once you have been in business
for a while, you will find the banks amenable to providing working capital
loans.
Is it time to have a few
conversations with bankers about options.
10) Hire
a new employee
The old saying is that the
best time to hire a new employee is when it hurts the most.
To grow you need more people.
Look at hiring some help today. Even if it is just for a day or a week, having an extra set of hands about might really help.
