In business, having the right information at the right time can help us overcome the spinning projectiles of changes in client needs and industry shifts.  A clearer perspective is often gained by first considering our personal lives.

Some of the hardest times of life are the times of transition and change. It is often during those times that we find stability in our mundane routines. Or, we find that our lack of attention to daily tasks will come back to bite us: eating, walking, sleeping, cleaning… These things are important, as Jordan Peterson reminds us:

Attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around…. Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead.

Clean your room… Make your bed…

That is true as we build businesses as well.  Developing routines in our lives and processes in our business is not only good practice, it can be grounding, a stabilizing force in the midst of change.  During a crisis is not the time to make major decisions in either life or business.  Don’t panic.  Don’t throw money at the problem.  Stay the course and double down on the basics.  Stay calm, take time to analyze the challenge, then locate and deal with its source to the best of your ability.

That is so easy to say.  When the crisis hits, it is not always as easy to do.  There may no longer be the time or resources to maintain all routines or all processes, but do not let the crisis dictate your life or your business.  It is your life, your decision to make.  Own it.

IBM’s response to the Great Depression is an excellent example of a company choosing to double down on the basics during a crisis.  Thomas J. Watson, Sr. chose to keep everyone working making the same machines they’d been making, even when demand had dropped off and those machines were being stored in a warehouse. He paid a heavy price to keep his employees working when sales were down.  In the end, it was worth it.  His decision laid the foundation for 50 years of success, with IBM becoming a household word.

 “You’re going to pay a price for every bloody thing you do and everything you don’t do. You don’t get to choose to not pay a price. You get to choose which poison you’re going to take. That’s it.” ― Jordan B. Peterson

It is not always easy to know which routines and processes are least likely to become threatening projectiles if they are not nailed down and which ones are essential to stability and moving ahead. But in business, timely, accurate financial records can provide invaluable insight for making those decisions. Quader Books provides financial statements and reports each month to our clients so they can have the data they need when faced with change.