Garrett B. Gunderson
It never ceases to amaze me what we hear when reading the paper or turning on the news. Words like catastrophe, crisis and calamity roll off the lips of the pundits on each station. Of course, you might find a found pet or some heartwarming story at the end of the newscast or buried somewhere in the paper, but most news media is riddled with stories of unemployment, debt, war and anything else that feels impossible to overcome and inevitably devastating.
Welcome to the Great Depression 2.0. I'm not interested in fear-mongering, but I am interested in helping you see the current financial market for what it is so you can navigate through the confusion and thrive, despite the headlines that would indicate thriving isn't an option.
Amid the meltdown, fear, chaos and confusion, I want to propose a radically different and counterintuitive option. Most people hear all of the horrible financial news thrown at us daily and feel upset or nervous. And while recessionary, or even depressionary, markets can be devastating for some, they are equally filled with opportunities to increase your wealth.
I emphasize the word equally. I'll restate that again, just in case you thought that last sentence must have been a typo: recessionary markets are a great time to increase your wealth. In fact, during the first Great Depression, only a third of the country lost wealth, lowered their standard of living, lost their job, etc. Another third maintained their standard of living, while another third actually increased their wealth. The purpose of this article is to help you be one of the third who increases their wealth during this current period of market uncertainty.
If anything, the economic volatility only highlights or exacerbates the behaviors and patterns that people tend to have even in good economic conditions. In many cases, the economic strains can even be healthy when it causes us to reexamine our unsustainable, unproductive, or non value-producing behaviors.
I recently had a conversation with Dr. Patrick Gentempo in a one-day immersion in my office in Salt Lake City. Combined, we've worked with thousands of chiropractors, organizations and individuals. We both work with individuals who are struggling right now, as well as those who are experiencing higher levels of growth and success than ever. As we talked about what separated those groups, we found that we both agreed on a set of traits or behaviors that were clearly common in both groups.
The Strugglers Vs. The Thrivers
First, let's look at focus. In our struggling group, as you might guess, their focus is on the never ending barrage of bad news. They spend unproductive hours watching the stock market, checking the Internet or watching the news to confirm their already entrenched belief of how bad things are. Add to that the time spent in unproductive conversations and discussions that conjure up feelings of fear and helplessness. As they project that fear on everyone else, it's no wonder that they experience others as being fearful. We hear comments like, "insurance companies are killing me." Or, "people don't have money for chiropractic care like they used to." This doesn't have to be you.
Our thriving clients, on the other hand, are taking a different approach. They certainly aren't sticking their head the sand, pretending that none of the financial catastrophes are real. They are often watching the same news programs and reading the same articles, however, it is with a completely different focus. They see that as they clearly understand the changes that are occurring in people's values and priorities, they can capitalize on an incredible opportunity to realign with what people want and value. One person's bad news is another person's opportunity.
First, it is imperative to understand that we are part of a production economy. In the past, employees and businesses have created a time and effort mentality that can cultivate an entitlement mentality and bad habits leading to lost production. Look to your most productive team member and during these uncertain times, let them know how valuable they are and give them a raise.
Even look to create incentive type compensation (depending on your state laws to reward them taking part in improving the bottom line). Build a culture where every team member understands that same entrepreneurial responsibility of maximizing the value we create with our customers, whoever our customers are. The question at hand is: what can you do to be productive, proactive and to lend your abilities in a way that creates maximum value for others? In this approach, it becomes critical to create more value for your customer than you consume and therefore increase your bottom line.
[pb]Three Types of Capital
There are three types of capital that each person should be working on to insure thriving in this economy.
Mental capital is especially critical to increase one's capacity, leadership and skill sets in order to increase productive output. While many get bogged down with the doom and gloom, refusing to spend money on improvement, training and education, the most successful take advantage of those lapses to accelerate their ability to create value. Increases in mental capital contribute to job security and career options.
Relationship capital is investing in important relationships because this is also paramount to stabilizing your personal economy. Those willing to extend themselves in relationships and expand their circle of relationships will fare far better during economic downturns. Important relationships should include mentors, teachers and others who are contributing to increased mental capital.
Financial capital, while important for thriving in these times, is actually listed third on purpose because it is not as important as mental and relationship capital. Financial capital will expand based on creating more value than you consume. The higher the gap that exists between the value you create and what you consume, the more financial capital you will have. The obvious solution is to increase output, production or value creation. This doesn't mean work longer hours, but rather to be aware of what others value and much better focus on delivering that value.
Finally, in order to provide the highest value and accumulate the most capital (mental, relationship and financial) find your passion. I call it your Soul Purpose.
Soul Purpose
Soul Purpose is an individual's unique set of talents, abilities and passions applied productively and effectively, which make tremendous impacts upon the world and bring the highest levels of joy and fulfillment for the individual and everyone they do business with.
Warren Buffet said, "only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked." Along those same lines, when economies are rough, those who aren't engaging all of their passions, talents and abilities (Soul Purpose) are quickly exposed. For some that might mean complete overhauls in what and how they contribute value to the world. Because dollars follow value, here are some ways to increase your value as you engage your Soul Purpose.
- Decide how to help your existing customers. (What can you do for them now?)
- Increase your investing toward something that improves your ability as an entrepreneur and creates value in the marketplace.
- Stop gambling (investing in other people and ideas that don't represent or further your Soul Purpose).
- Associate with people that want to solve problems.
- Do a power hour on a daily basis to cultivate the proper mindset of abundance (exercise, educate yourself and gratitude).
- Use this as an opportunity to follow your path, rather than the seemingly "safe" path that has been exposed.
- Kill the sacred cows. The recession exposes the areas we never had to pay attention to before.
Companies and individuals alike do best when they have a Soul Purpose, a core reason for existing. Making money is a natural by-product of having a real purpose other than making money. You must identify who you are, why you exist, who you can serve, what you can be the best in the world at and then bring that core to the world in the most powerful and effective way possible. Diversification is nothing but distraction; focus is the magnification of your own unique value proposition. While others are struggling and cutting back, you could be gaining market share. Jobs and businesses exist to solve problems and during recessions there are more problems to solve, hence there is more money to be made.
Prosperity is much more than dollars, investment accounts and toys; it's the internal joy that you experience by applying your best work to pressing problems. Soul Purpose is the best long-term investment. Find what you were born to do and do it — your prosperity will increase exponentially.
