Wednesday Wisdom: Digging Deep for More Success

Wednesday Wisdom, Hump Day, Success Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Entrepreneurs

Pondering what Time Magazine will call 2020, I envision a few options, “The Year of Cancellations,” “The Year of Nothing,” “The Year of Knowing Your Backyard Better,” or perhaps “The Year of What the Hell is Going On?” When Monday’s headlines in the Syracuse Post Standard announced the Great New York State Fair was cancelled for the first time since 1942 (so the fairgrounds could be used as a military base for World War II), I knew we remained in uncharted territory dealing with the ramifications of the pandemic. Even the weather doesn’t know what is happening as New York State is embroiled in a heat wave.

Just when we hoped to return to normal business life as the phased re-openings continue across the state, we hear about uncertainties of college and school reopenings, read about businesses permanently closing, and the possibility of a sport-less fall season. Talk about change! Does your head swim? I’ll admit it, mine does and this is when I turn to education as an essential tool for success in business.

I dare to say now more than ever before women entrepreneurs need to look at their businesses with new eyes especially in these fast-paced, evolving times around us. As the marketplace changes, our familiar clients change, which leads to our companies needing to change, and as leaders of our entities it means we might need to change. This new way of analyzing your business is part of corporate anthropology, described by Women TIES Hudson Valley member Andi Simon of Simon Associates, as “Corporate anthropology helps you push the brain past the pain of change – stepping out of your organization and observing it as if you were a foreign visitor trying to learn the language, customers, and values as you observe, listen, and interact with employees, customers or potential customers.”

The Year of 2020 is not a normal business year and normalcy might not return for awhile so we must consider what we need to do as business owners to rise to the challenge. It will take digging deep into our depths, reorganizing our resources, observing our business from another perspective, and reworking our plans with the intent to unearth a treasure trove of exciting new possibilities.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to prompt you to join me and Andi Simon next Wednesday for a conversation on the topic of corporate anthropology and success strategies to help you sustain your entity. If you can’t make the Zoom seminar, at least look up the topic of corporate anthropology, buy Andi Simon’s book, or set a week on your calendar to conduct serious business planning on your own.

We cannot stick our heads in the sand and ignore the truth that change is happening all around us and ways it is affecting our businesses. We must rise to the occasion. I personally hope Time Magazine’s cover describes 2020 as “The Year of the Woman Entrepreneur Who Embraced Change and Succeeded!”