Uncertainty and Opportunity: Your Business Story in the Making

Starting the conversation:

How do you navigate the constant waves of uncertainty in today’s business world? Because it feels like the ground is always shifting, and when we don’t claim the narrative of our business, other points of view influence the decisions we are faced with. We dive deep into the heart of business resilience and explore how to define a company’s adaptive power, take ownership of your unique story, and build the future you envision, starting today.

Don’t just react to change – learn to proactively shape your business’s destiny. Tune in to discover practical tactics to connect past decisions to future growth, focus on long-term vision, challenge a passive approach to uncertainty, and understand how to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement.

Christy Maxfield, President and CEO at Purpose First Advisors, Dean Barta, Founder and CEO at Barta Business Group, and your host, Jess Dewell, Managing Partner and Growth Strategist at Red Direction, discuss what makes it BOLD to claim your company’s narrative as you navigate uncertainty and opportunity.

Host: Jess Dewell

Guests: Christy Maxfield and Dean Barta

What You Will Hear:

03:25 Resilience is necessary in the face of unprecedented uncertainty.

• Emphasis on the importance of resilience and adaptation in the current uncertain landscape.
• Sustaining confidence can help businesses navigate through bumps and obstacles.
• The necessity of identifying individual strengths to show up amidst external forces.

08:35 The benefit of narrowing focus to short-term goals during uncertainty.

• Focusing on short-term goals like a 90-day plan during uncertainty.
• Helps bridge the gap between long-term strategy and daily implementation.
• Necessary for sustaining operations and achieving the desired future state.

14:00 Authentic connection with clients is vital during uncertain times.

• How authentic relationships with clients can alleviate anxiety and uncertainty.
• Building stronger relationships can positively impact businesses and client retention.
• Connecting authentically with clients brings mutual benefits and fosters long-term trust.

35:30 Addressing team alignment and discomfort can aid in navigating uncertainty.

• Creating alignment within your team and addressing reluctance to adopt changes.
• It’s crucial to engage the team and ensure everyone rows in the same direction for success.
• Teams must work together to adapt and initiate essential changes for sustainability.

38:20 The impact of belief systems on buying patterns and business pipelines.

• Personal insight about how buying patterns and pipelines can be affected by belief systems.
• Recognizing underlying factors in sales and client interactions.
• Acknowledging and adapting to how external changes influence customer decisions.

43:06 Embrace the opportunity to make decisions and stop activities that don’t add value.

• Use change as a chance to rethink past decisions and prioritize activities that truly align with business goals.
• Decisions made in the past can be revisited and revised for better strategic alignment.
• Allow space to focus on what’s essential for long-term success of the business.

56:25 Jess Dewell, Christy Maxfield, and Dean Barta takeaways:

• Dean Barta: Just focus on what works, on a daily basis.
• Christy Maxfield: What allows you to make it to the next inflection point?
• Jess Dewell: We’ve already done good work to get here. So how can we lean into that good work?

Resources

• Dean Barta on LinkedIn
• Christy Maxfield on LinkedIn
• Jess Dewell on LinkedIn
• BOOK: Deep Survival
• How to Gain Competitive Advantage
• Neuroscience and the Three Brains of Leadership

Transcript

Dean Barta 00:00
Sometimes the smallest business owner is the calmest person in the boat.

Christy Maxfield 00:03
If you haven’t already built your lifeboat for your entrepreneurial journey, this is the time to do it because this ain’t the end we’re faced.

Jess Dewell 00:11
Resilience really matters. Adaption really matters. And in fact, it’s no longer desirable. It is necessary.

Jess Dewell 00:17
I’m so glad you’re here. Thanks for stopping by. At the Bold Business Podcast, we are normalizing important conversations. Yes, there are tips. Yes, there are ways to solve problems. More importantly are going to be what do you need for yourself to be able to solve those problems and make the most of the education, the training and the programs that you are already using. This is a supplement to that. It can sit on top of it. Fuel your soul, fuel your mind. And most importantly, regardless of where you’re at on your journey, maybe you’re starting out, maybe you’re ready to scale, maybe you’re going through reinvention. The conversations we are having will help you at each of those stages. So hang around, see what’s going on and I look forward to seeing you engaging with our videos.

Announcer 01:09
Welcome to It’s Your Business, brought to you by the Bold Business Podcast. This is your go-to source for navigating today’s ever-evolving business landscape. In this program, Jess, Christy and Quentin share the realities of current business challenges and triumphs. Get ready to lead with depth, understanding and achievement.

Jess Dewell 01:34
Thanks and welcome. I’m so glad to have you here today. I am with Dean and Christy and we are going to introduce ourselves in a minute. First though, first though, this is It’s Your Business and we’re brought to you by the Bold Business Podcast and this particular discussion has evolved from three professionals working with people and companies that are starting to experience some of the same things. And you know what I like to do as the host of the Bold Business Podcast? I like to bring diverse conversations together so that we can see an arc, so that we can see a theme and it gives us a chance to find the thing that we can use after you’re done listening and watching in your business to make progress, whatever that looks like to you right now. So get ready, let’s keep leading with courage and we’re going to go in depth. We’re going to talk about understanding and we’re focused on our long-term achievement. With me today is Dean. Dean, introduce yourself.

Dean Barta 02:32
Hi Dean Barda at Barda Business Group. We focus on bookkeeping to Fractional CFO services for primarily trade service businesses. So people that are great at their craft but not great at the back of the house.

Jess Dewell 02:46
Christy.

Christy Maxfield 02:48
Christy Maxfield. Purpose First, Advisors. We focus on growth through the lens of exit and succession planning. It’s never too early to know where you want to go.

Jess Dewell 02:57
And I’m Jess, and I’m providing strategic guidance for teams that want to level up their strategy and make sure that, that growth that they are planning for is actually keeping them relevant at the same time. So here we go. Why now? I, you know what? I’ve got all this stuff in front of me, but I don’t even know what the title of this is. It’s like the one thing that I.

Christy Maxfield 03:19
Uncertainty and Opportunity: Your Business Story in the Making.

Jess Dewell 03:24
Yes. So with. Thank you. And so with that, we’ve got this. Why now? Right. Why now do we want to make sure that our business story is something that we are saying is because when everybody gets reactive, we latch onto beliefs. So if we give with confidence the story that we want, the situation that is the way we can help, then people can latch onto that. And that is something that allows us to sustain, doesn’t erase anything, but it does sustain us through some of the bumps and make some a little less bumpy along the way. I mean, we’re facing unprecedented levels of uncertainty. So resilience really matters. Adaption really matters. And in fact, it’s no longer desirable. It is necessary. So here’s the deal, and I bet I can speak for Christie and Dean when I say this. I believe that each of us has a strength and we are resilient in some way. It is up to us to figure out what way that is so that we can quit being as reactive to those external forces and show up with the strength that we bring from the work and the experience we already have. What do you think, Dean and Christy?

Christy Maxfield 04:39
We’re absolutely resilient in different ways, each one of us. Um, and I think that the challenge becomes that the times we live in require us to be more resilient faster. Um, cause if we think about like a. A rubber band and the idea that I can stretch it, stretch it, stretch it, and then when I let it go, it’ll go back to way it was. Well, we actually know that the more you stretch the rubber band, the more the shape actually changes. It doesn’t actually go back to exactly the way it was. So how can you return to a new state given the circumstances that created the need for resilience to begin with? The stress. Right. Because the. The. The analogy is putting that rubber band under stress, and that Stress is in fact changing the state of that. You will return to, you will not return to your exact same state. So how quickly can you recover from that? And what of your secret skills, special sauce, superpowers, can you use to make that happen as quickly as possible?

Dean Barta 05:51
Well, and I think there’s also, and what Christy is mentioning too is having the awareness of that. So imagine you’re in a life raft with say eight other people and you’re all freaking out about being in this life raft and your whatever ship is sunk or something. And so one is having the awareness, okay, there’s anxiety, there’s uncertainty, what are we going to do? And someone has to step up to basically be the leader level set. You know, that basically calms the mental waters. And so that I think is that that’s a special skill set is, you know, it’s an opportunity for us. And you sometimes, you never know what who may perceive to be a leader. They may be the ones freaking out the most. So it’s, it, you know, it’s not like, oh, automatically they’re the certain level of their business. No, sometimes the smallest business owner has, is the calmest person in boat. So that’s tapping and it’s an opportunity to tap into our, our superpowers.

Jess Dewell 07:03
And we’re going to talk about this conversation in three parts. And in these three parts, who knows where we will go. You are in for a ride. Just like we are on this. I don’t know what river we’re on. I hope it’s calm, Dean, let’s just say that. So our three, our three pieces, our first section that we will go into will be well in our strategy we are talking about and always thinking about forward looking a year, five years or more. Well, sometimes during serious levels of uncertainty, it is the right thing to do to dial it back and just look at 90 days, know the rest is there. Go back to it later. Just 90 days. So that’s the first one. Rein it in in terms of how far you’re looking. The second one is we’re going to share some of the problems that we’re experiencing and that the clients that we’re working with are experiencing. So that one, you know, you’re not alone, you know, and two, that there are some interesting ways that we might talk about it to help you get another lens. So the first thing, and the second thing now the third part is, well, so what does that boil down? What are those skills that these companies, these teams, these leaders have actually brought to the table and are choosing to Lean into us included, so that we can leverage the skills that we have, because now’s the time to use those instead of building new ones. New ones are going to come because of it, but we’re going to focus on what can we do with it, right?

Christy Maxfield 08:27
100%.

Jess Dewell 08:28
Yeah. So, Dean, talk to us. This was actually something that you were sharing with us, right? Like, well, let’s just. The first section, let’s just go 90 days instead of any farther. Tell us more about that.

Dean Barta 08:39
Well, you know, and it’s, you know, there’s proven studies about, you know, basically setting shorter-term goals. And I think 90 days is a shorter-term goal. And how do you accomplish things over 90 days? Guess what? Just like anything in life, it happens moment by moment, day by day. And, and really in my, my practice, whether it’s physical or business or whatever is the things I am doing today is going to affect what my business is 90 days from now. So we’re constantly working, doing what we can right now to affect the future. And. Or another way to look at it is thinking about would you, what would you have done differently 90 days ago if you would have known this was happening today? That’s another way to look at as well.

Christy Maxfield 09:39
Yeah, I like looking at it in 90 days because you can break down big goals into smaller, more manageable parts. But also in the midst of all the chaos, if you can decide that there are three, maybe four at most, high value activities that have to continue regardless of what’s going on around you in order for you to have the likelihood of generating new business, retaining current business, launching new products, responding to the environment, there’s things you have to do that are prerequisites for any anticipated outcome that you want. If I want to lose weight, I’ve got to cut back on my eating and ramp up on my movement. If I want to have new sales in 90 days, I have to really make sure that the sales and marketing practices that I know work for my business are being implemented with fidelity. Even though there’s other things crowding my brain space and maybe even requiring more time and energy. So, so that really comes down to this idea that if you have to strip away down to your core competencies and the essential functions that your business has and make it through, what are those going to be? And the best analogy I think we all have is actually to look at how restaurants responded to COVID. You know, what are the things we do exceedingly well? What, how can we continue to do them given the limitations of our circumstances and at what level do we have to continue doing them to have a viable business? At the end, everybody responded a little differently, but each restaurateur was trying to get to the other side. And so for some that meant changing how they prepared their meals, how they delivered their meals, who they were selling to, how they were selling, what they were pricing. And for others it also meant a contraction in footprint or the types of menus they were offering or when they were actually open. So what are the things you can be doing to preserve the core?

Jess Dewell 11:48
That’s true. And so I went looking for some information researching this and one of the stats that came up, which is a stat many of us might have heard in some variation, but the economist reported in 2024 that companies and the leaders within these firms struggle to bridge the gap between strategy and its day to day implementation. And you know what the percentage was? 61%.

Christy Maxfield 12:14
And that’s on a good day with not a whole lot of disruption.

Jess Dewell 12:17
Correct? That’s exactly right, Christy. And so thinking about that and knowing, okay, we’re already at a deficit in general, we recognize there are some things just let go. I’m going to add to the amazing insights that have already been shared by Dean and Christie by saying this is the time to go, well, what have we actually been saying and do we agree with it? Are we truly having the statements that communicate what we are attempting to do? It reinforces those short-term goals, it reinforces the core elements of what might the next clear step be. And I will tell you that I think that when and, and that worry goes up. So when we, we’ve talked about what risk, our risk comfort and that risk comfort zone that we look at not only as individuals but as an organization and that’s actually where our resilience is made. So even if we think we’re in this really risky time, I would challenge are we really, what have we done in the past that helps us see that we can get to the other side of something unknown and then go cool, we’ve done it once before. Which automatically removes a level of stress and frustration which automatically allows other questions to come in of we hear your worry, this is our message and have a single message for that period of time for every 90-day set of goals, every single core element that we have, what is that single message? And it might be we’re rowing together. It could be whatever you needed to be and want it to be as well. We have so much to say on this. I’m just trying to figure out because here’s here’s the thing.

Dean Barta 14:00
Yeah, go ahead. Well, you know, Christy brought it up, and you brought it up, too. I mean, we’re only five years removed from a very good example. Right. Yeah. In COVID. So, you know, let’s say we, you know, we. We built up certain skill sets in the last five years. Right. Or at least five years ago or four years ago. So, you know, the old saying is it’s not our first rodeo. Right. So, you know, so we are. You know, it’s. To me. And this. I’ve saw this with businesses. I saw this with myself. Is in your. You’re right on Jeff’s about, hey, you know, focusing on what. What is our message? And a lot of times, I feel is in. In any of our businesses, it’s how can I connect closer to the client? Okay. Because. And authentically. Authentically. And, and, and I tell you what, I, I think it feels better on both ends. It feels great for the client. It feels great for me. And because I can empathize. Oh, you’re having struggles. Definitely. We’re in that raft together, and let’s figure this out together. And rather than being disconnected away from it because the worry, stress or whatever of this situation or uncertainty is basically Amnesty’s checkout.

Christy Maxfield 15:30
Yeah. And I heard two things. So the getting connected authentically with your clients or staying connected authentically with your clients is really important. And I think naming the stress in the room. Right. You know, not pretending like it’s business as usual, but also, do we have a shared goal? And is our shared goal to get through this? And then how can we work together to both make it to the other side? And, Jess, when I heard you saying was, is there actually alignment between what we said our strategy is and what our tasks and tactics are? Yeah. And 61%, I think, is what you said is there’s usually a big disconnect, the failure to take strategy and actually turn it into tactics and tasks. So we’re generally working with businesses that aren’t tens of thousands of people. They might be hundreds. They might be a lot smaller than that. But any disconnect is going to waste time and energy that you don’t have to waste. And so the person who wasn’t fully on board with automating something, changing a process or procedure, integrating a new piece of technology, changing the sales script, whatever the change was that you needed. Because strategy assumes on some level that certain things will either need to be perpetuated because they’re working or changed because they’re not.

Jess Dewell 16:57
And by the way during this time. I would say don’t worry about changing them because they’re not. Let them go and work on what you can without change.

Christy Maxfield 17:04
And I would say that if your strategy for success was predicated on certain things changing because they were no longer sustainable.

Jess Dewell 17:10
Yes.

Christy Maxfield 17:11
And you’ve been turning a blind eye to the team member or members who aren’t willing to make that change. It is time to say, this is what you’re being invited to be a part of. This is how we are going to make it through the other side. I understand the discomfort and I can. All I can promise you is it will be uncomfortable until it becomes your new normal and that we will work through that process together. But they need to then make that choice of will I get on board with doing this so that we can all make it to the other side together, or is the resistance to change too much and I need to opt out? I think it just highlights when things are good. There’s a lot of room for letting certain things slide and most of us don’t have that luxury right now. And most of us are going to have to say we’re all either rowing in the same direction or you’re actively impeding our ability to be successful moving forward. And if that’s the case, then this might not be the right place for you.

Jess Dewell 18:16
You’re listening to the Bold Business Podcast. I’m your host, Jess Dewell. This is your program for strategizing long-term success while diving deep into what the right work is for your business.

Announcer 18:29
Right now, you are listening to the Bold Business Podcast hosted by Jess Dewell, a nationally recognized strategic growth consultant. She works with business owners and executives to integrate just two elements that guide business through the ups and downs of growth. Number one, know what work is necessary. Number two, do all the work possible. Schedule a complimentary consultation to find out more at redirection dot com.

Jess Dewell 19:03
Hey, so DJ has stopped by and he is asking us, What do you think about the future of the economy because of tariffs? Well, way to just open a can of worms, DJ, welcome to our show by the way. And I would say it’s actually not a can of worms. What I will speak for myself here and say I have a definite opinion and I’m going to put it through the lens of through the lens of all of us, where we’re at today. And my statement would be this. We know where tariffs are coming from and we may understand one of the many reasons because it’s not been clearly laid out to us of what the objective of These tariffs are. So once we know that, I think there’s going to be a lot more clarity about what our economy can do. Here’s what I can tell you right now that I see being an issue for a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises. And that is they just want to keep making their goods and services and they want to keep getting it to the customers that want them. And with this uncertainty, it changes their expense, it changes their ability, their supply chain, it changes everything. Which means if they can’t keep making their product for some reason related to the uncertainty caused by tariffs, it’s going to impact customers. And that relationship, we talked about relationships earlier so far is going to really matter because we want to bring our customers with us through uncertainty sometimes. So that’s just one of the things I would say. Plus I’m like, do the businesses, small and medium-sized businesses, want to create the things that are going to be tariffed so they can keep making their product? That is a whole discussion and nobody asked them. So I’m just going to point that out and say call it good on that. Dean and Christy, what do you think you would add in, in this way? And what do you think about what I said?

Christy Maxfield 20:56
Dean, I’m going to defer to you.

Jess Dewell 21:06
We ll, I don’t know what you thought about what I was saying, but I will tell you, I was like, well, let’s just put this in the lens of our conversation today.

Dean Barta 21:13
Well, well, okay, so tariffs, choose Covid, choose flooding, choose hurricanes, choose tornado. I mean there is going to be a multitude of things of different scopes and sizes and you know, recessions, you know, length of time. It’s about just how you flex with this all. And so, you know, and sometimes it’s like, hey, you deal with, you know, there’s certainly the huge uncertainty when tariffs were first announced, but there’s a pause on, on ones as long as it’s not China right now. But so now it’s like, okay, it gives you some time to like do some more preparing. And so to me it’s like, yeah, we don’t have the answers on how the economy, I’m not an economist, nor do I, you know, claim to be, but it’s, it basically it comes down to what are you going to do today to help you, you know, you preserve or move, move forward with your business, you know, no matter what comes up. I mean that’s really more the point. And you know, you can have long, long discussions about anything about how it affects your business. But it really is just how you, how any of us are reacting to the given situation.

Christy Maxfield 22:37
Yeah, again, not an economist, not even in the accounting field. So my relationship to understanding the overall impact on our economy is only to say, know that whether it’s man-made or otherwise, a lot of the things we’ve experienced, with the exception of COVID over the last 20 years have actually been the outcome of a series of decisions. Think the housing crisis, right? That didn’t just happen. And our ability to have a long enough Runway to deal with the uncertainty that is inevitable in the system will determine whether or not we can be around for the recovery. And I know a lot of folks who are. The focus is primarily on how can I be here for what I know will be a recovery. It’s unclear how long that which we will have to recover from will last and how severe it will be. So if the question is how do I take advantage of a recovery when it happens, how do I make sure I’m positioned to do that? I think it really taps into entrepreneurism at its core, which is can I imagine something that doesn’t yet exist with resources that I don’t currently control that allow me to position myself in a dynamic landscape where opportunities are presenting themselves at different times. So some people will create businesses that did not exist prior to this. Some people will retool the businesses they have. Some people will decide that the business model they have is no longer sustainable. It is better to cut their losses and go do something else, whether that’s with them on their own or with someone else. I think the idea that we will just hold on no matter what, ignores the fact that for every business owners there’s going to be a different way to get to the other side. And ultimately we have to make sure that we and our families are, are, are taken care of to the best of our abilities. And so it might mean we have to face some harsh realities and make decisions that allow us to preserve our financial core so that we can do different things in the future that are yet to be determined. It’s a really, it’s an unsettling time. But to Dean’s point, we’ve been through a lot of unsettling times before. And I guess what I would really just say is if the unsettling times before didn’t prove that we need to have access to capital lined up before we need it. We have to have financial reserves for when there is a rainy day because it will rain. We have to have the business practices in place that help us do what we do as efficiently as possible, and the people on our teams that help us perform at our highest. Like, if we haven’t learned those lessons, please learn them now. Yeah. You have to either wear a boat. Yeah. If you go. If you continue to want to go on the high seas without a lifeboat, that’s your choice. But we know what constitutes lifeboats in this situation. We know what contributes to resilience. We know that there are things, you know, we can identify key decision points, whether we’re using financial metrics or other types of indicators. But please, if you haven’t already built your lifeboat for your entrepreneurial journey, this is the time to do it. Because this ain’t the end. This is just one in a series of things you will have to react to.

Jess Dewell 26:22
It makes me think of the song by they Might Be Giants on their album Flood. Hang on. Hang on tight. Right. That’s really where we’re at right now, I think. But regardless, I appreciate your points of view. And you know what? I’m also not an economist, but I don’t mind saying, hey, this is what the people are telling me. They’re telling me they weren’t asked, and now what do they do? Because they have all these questions. They are now being looked to for answers. And I think that that is an incredible important thing to recognize and say out loud. You are going to be asked some tough questions that there are no answers for. We won’t know until 10 years go by what the right questions to ask for today will be. So how do we navigate that? And that actually goes into the next part of what we want to talk about, which is what are the problems? And by the way, I think tariffs are a great lead into this because what are the problems that we are hearing and experiencing ourselves in addition to the clients that we’re working with that will allow us to shape this question of. So we get to claim what we want and communicate that out. And there is opportunity in this uncertainty.

Dean Barta 27:33
Well, I mean, with, you know, clients or even prospective clients that I’m working with is, you know, just like any of us is, hey, if we think, you know, it’s funding, okay, so is you. Am I. Are we going to have the resources, whether it’s a nonprofit or for profit business, to make that investment in the business, you know, and all that? And because like any of us, if. If we knew, if we were all W2 employees, you know, if we knew we’re going to get a raise and the company’s doing well, we’re going to take that vacation. We’re going to, you know, buy that car or whatever it might be. And. And that’s the same thought process coming around with business. And so, you know, us as business advisors is kind of, you know, settling the waters of that. But, you know, to me, it’s. I’m really taking that leadership position to say, okay, what can we do, you know, now? But, yeah, a lot of people are kind of. And I’ve just seen this week could be natural disasters. You know, people just kind of wait and, like, they either affix to their social media about what’s going on, and. And then there’s a period of time that people just tire of it, and they’re like, okay. And they get exhausted with the stress of the uncertainty, and it moves them off the bubble to take action. So, I mean, that’s what I’m seeing with. With. With clients and potential clients right now at my business.

Christy Maxfield 29:09
Yeah, we’ve talked amongst ourselves, and I’ve talked with my clients. They’re experiencing a slowdown in the sales cycle. It’s getting longer. People are still very interested, but they’re very hesitant to make decisions. Some people are experiencing a slowdown in qualified leads altogether because those folks aren’t even out exploring what the options are because of that hesitancy. And so I think things like the tariffs are indirectly impacting a lot of businesses because the overall sentiment is I need to wait and see, and I need to keep some powder dry, and I’m not ready to move off the bubble yet. Which comes back to how much of a Runway do you have for your business? Can I wait out a longer sales cycle? A lot of my clients will say, I know the business is there. They just haven’t made the decision yet. They haven’t signed the contract yet. But all signs are, I’m doing the right things. I’m meeting the right people. I’m putting together the right proposals. I’m doing all the business development activities I need to be doing. And the bottleneck is the actual decision to spend the money. So it depends on your business and industry, products and service. How can you position making the choice to proceed as one that aligns with your customer’s goals of making it to the other side? And it’s up to them on what the value proposition, you know, would you. Is that a compelling enough value proposition for them?

Jess Dewell 30:48
So we’ve been dancing around this a little, and I’m going to add competitive advantage. And it kind of goes back to the conversation we were having that DJ sparked for Us. And it kind of goes back to the conversations we were having on LinkedIn on our posts prior to this show today. But when the length or the, the strength of the market segment we have and the percentage of it that we can count on is going to allow us some flexibility in the decisions that Christy was just talking about. And I will tell you, a lot of people don’t like to talk about competitive advantage. They don’t like to talk about having a certain market share and being able to work with that. And guess what? This is where it really matters. This is, this is really where it matters. And so I’m glad. I like coopetition. I like all of the things, I like growing together. But in the end, if we haven’t done the research and we don’t know that data, all my clients that have not done that, and I’ve been saying for years, where are your competitors compared to you? What are they doing? What is the disruption coming? And I will tell you from before COVID during COVID and after COVID, outside of industries have changed. Disruption is here and it’s going to speed up disruption in certain industries. It’s going to go, oh, look, we’ve already been there and we’re going to get disrupted again before our cycle for others and others are going to be like, cool, we’re done, we’ve done this. We can make this one through and see what happens. But here’s what I really want to talk about with disruption and competitive advantage. When we claim what we do best, when we know how our customers buy, when we understand our unique selling proposition, we can adapt faster to changes in sales cycle, to changes in available money. By the way, most private equity is gone for a while. By the way, I’m so glad banks are showing up and going, ooh, we see this opportunity to work with businesses in our own areas. Check out your local regional banks. I bet there will be somebody who can help get you capital locally and that wants to see your business succeed in your community. So total monies part aside, they’re going to want to know exactly what I just said. How, what’s your pipeline? How much can you expect? Where did they go? What is your market share? And being able to articulate that and have your goals, your big goals, but also whatever you’re going to do right now to get through is a huge learning piece. And that is the, that, by the way, is answer to 80% of the conversations I’m having. So what can you really do? Where is your market share? So, you know, do I have the flex to wait it out, do I not? And not be surprised by it later. Because the hard conversation and the analysis of data, plus the analysis of your industry, plus what you have seen happen in your past and the cycles within your industry, depending on the longevity of your company, you have what it takes, and I firmly believe in that. And it comes down to your competitive advantage.

Dean Barta 33:46
Well, one thing, it came to mind, and I didn’t think I was even going to reference this book during this conversation, but a book I read several years ago, and I can put it in a link in here, it’s called Deep Survival by Lawrence Gonzalez. And I like the. It’s deep survival, colon, who lives, who dies and why? And a great book. And, you know, it’s got so many great references, you know, for business and life and all that. And I think, you know, one of the. Which we’ve talked about is let’s use that, you know, life wrapped in the middle of the ocean kind of thing is it talks about how do you do your daily duties? And then there’s an example, I think in the book, the guy was lost at sea for, I don’t know, 75 days or something like that, and they go to pick him up and he, he survived by doing daily duties, one to keep his mind active, but he was, like, living in the present, right? He was doing the things that he knows, you know, whatever. 75 days later, they, they go to pick him up and they say, go to feed him. And he is. His reaction was, I’ve got enough food, because he was doing his daily duties and he had his fish in his boat. And so to me, it’s a very, you know, it’s, it’s a good example of, hey, you could take this uncertain situation, being thrown in the ocean, and I. All you have is a life raft, okay? It’s like, what can I do now? And what can I do, you know, day by day, by mo, moment by moment. And, you know, it’s a great book if, if anybody hasn’t read it, and it’s easily picked up, you know, Amazon and, and anywhere else. So.

Jess Dewell 35:28
Yep.

Christy Maxfield 35:29
One of the things I took away from that book, too, was that those of us who think we have it all figured out sometimes put ourselves in very precarious situations because we start to underestimate the risks involved in the situation. And so there’s also a good reminder to be humble in the face of what is before you and to seek other counselors and to go back to the fundamentals of. Is this what’s the worst case scenario? Am I prepared to live with it? Right. Because if I recall correctly, Dean, you know, lots of stories too about people embarking on wilderness journeys, who, had they been on the outside looking in and sort of doing a debrief on what happened and why it happened, would probably have observed that they ignored some very clear signs that they shouldn’t have gone out to do what they were doing. True. Right. And that they, these were the experts, these are the people who know exactly how to, to do these things and how to survive these things. And yet when, when the author and others debriefed the scenario, it was very clear that they, they overestimated their ability to deal with the inherent dangers of the situation. So I would say this is a great time to bring your team together. This is a great time to lean into other advisors, not to over worry the situation, but to say, really, you know, am I missing something? Am I missing something by holding back? Am I missing something by moving forward that, you know, we could mitigate against and improve our outcomes for success?

Jess Dewell 37:12
Yeah. And it starts from claiming exactly where we are. I know. That’s the thing we’ve all said before in different ways. We have to claim exactly our reality right now so that we can understand. And if we don’t have information, okay. If we had the information and we’ve never used it, okay. If we, if we have gotten too comfortable, okay. If we’re not comfortable enough. Okay. Right. All of the things. The thing is, it’s cool. My. That’s my coolio. That’s exactly. All right. Whatever it is, we got something to work with. And I think that’s what the sense of whatever the problem is. I’m your host, Jess Dewell, and we’re getting down to business on the Bold Business Podcast. This is where we’re tackling the challenges that matter most to you with actionable and achievable advice to get real results that lead to your success. Focused on growth.?

Announcer 38:03
Focused on growth.? Listen to more programs like this which support the challenges and opportunities you are working with right now. Search Bold Business Podcast for the key terms@red direction.com or your preferred podcast listening app. Search Bold Business Podcast for the key terms@red direction.com or your preferred podcast listening app.

Jess Dewell 38:20
What did we name? We named Sales Pipeline. We’ve named Capital Drying Up. What else have we named? I’ve actually had customer bought in my business. Customer buying patterns are changing and actually not for what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be because the kind of consulting that we do is usually considered a luxury item and it’s a budgetary Thing or they. The relationship changes a little bit to maximize dollars during times of uncertainty. But it wasn’t that. It was actually belief systems that changed buying patterns and the quality and the depth of the pipeline for Red Direction, which I was really surprised about and I’m .

Christy Maxfield 38:59
Glad to know. What kind of beliefs?

Jess Dewell 39:03
Oh, you. You’re setting me up, aren’t you? Let’s see, what will I actually say? I’ll call it what I thought I told you this. It’s like, so here’s the deal. People who did not look like me left my pipeline.

Christy Maxfield 39:13
Those belief in the capability of you as a consultant. Correct.

Jess Dewell 39:19
Based on the way I look like.

Christy Maxfield 39:22
The person who’s going to make my decision.

Jess Dewell 39:24
Yeah.

Christy Maxfield 39:25
And help me through the other side.

Jess Dewell 39:27
Probably my gender too, if I were to go out on a limb. Oh, yeah.

Christy Maxfield 39:30
Right. So that also, I’m. It’s also fascinating.

Jess Dewell 39:34
Right, right, fascinating.

Christy Maxfield 39:36
And part of your key differentiation is I don’t look like you.

Jess Dewell 39:42
That’s right.

Christy Maxfield 39:42
What does that allow me to bring to the table that you would never, ever think about, that you would never see. If somebody like me, who doesn’t come from that particular mold was with you in this journey, what kind of questions would I ask that you’re not asking? And resources identifying even, I think, things as resources that others might either see as liabilities or not recognize as being part of their strength and their capability.

Jess Dewell 40:09
And I actually appreciate you bringing that up, Christie, because here’s what I actually think. I think people wanted shortcuts and they wanted quicker answers. And taking the time and putting in the effort turned out to be the problem. And the easiest answer was what I shared, which is interesting to go, wow, it came back down to that. But is that really. And the answer is no, it’s really not. So understanding what is acceptable, what is seen and does it actually help us is probably a good filter to put on everything we are seeing and consuming right now.

Christy Maxfield 40:48
Fascinating.

Jess Dewell 40:49
Right. Thank you. Yeah. And then there’s. And then, you know, I’m thinking about just like the cost of doing business, going to a show and having a trade show booth, actually being on the road and going to client sites. What else? The cost of making sure that all the elements of distribution to get the parts to make your thing.The expectation of, well, what do we do now? With the cost of everything digital and cybersecurity continuing to skyrocket when everything else is skyrocketing. And now you have to make a choice. Those are other things that are showing up in the dialogues that I’m having with customers and that we’re actually, actually Red Direction is working with the cybersecurity piece too. The cost of what does that mean? How does that look? What is the information we have? Do we have too much? Do we not have enough? And then how do you protect it? And then what does that actually look like? That is a real, real conversation. That is, it was becoming mainstream and now it might get tabled. And I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I think that that’s the kind of thing you can’t table because it’s the whole that becomes part of it. And digital is our future. Data in the cloud is gonna, is already a big part of our business. We’ve got to own that as well to know what do we want to do as we’re going forward.

Christy Maxfield 42:13
Just a few things.

Jess Dewell 42:14
Just a few. We could go on. But here’s the deal. It’s time for us to reintroduce ourselves. You are listening to it’s yous Business, brought to you by the Bold Business podcast. And I’m your host Jess Dewell. And at Red Direction, we’re working with leadership teams that want to level up their strategy to create long-lasting business growth. Growth through staying relevant in the moment and across time. Dean.

Dean Barta 42:40
Dean, Dean At Barda Business Group we service trade, service businesses with bookkeeping, Fractional CFO services for small businesses.

Christy Maxfield 42:54
Christy and I’m Christy Maxfield, Purpose First Advisors. We work with owners on growth through the lens of exit and succession planning so that you know exactly where you’re going and what it’s going to take to get there.

Jess Dewell 43:06
And today our show is about uncertainty and opportunity that lies within that uncertainty and the story of your business in the making. And really business story can mean a lot of things. We’re not talking about branding and marketing. We’re talking about the narrative with which we show up, internal communication, the narrative with which we show up to support and bring knowledge and maybe even a little bit of calmness to our clients during times of uncertainty that they’re impacted by as well. And so we have talked about let’s contract our big vision and have our goals be 90 days an action-oriented step to contract actively. That was part one. Part two was the problems that we’re hearing and experiencing. And now we’re going to head into part three, which is what are actually the actions we can take, what are the skills that we have and how can we take something away from our conversation today? Each person listening and watching so that you can make progress in A way that fuels success to not only survive, but to actually have confidence with each of the decisions that we are making in this time of uncertainty.

Dean Barta 44:22
Well, I mean, one of the things that I’ve been doing in the last about three, four weeks and one thing that we haven’t mentioned is, you know, we mentioned about, you know, the stress of uncertainty, but you know, the, the daily actions, they can be fun too. And so one of the things I’ve been doing is I’ve been reaching out to businesses in person and, and we, you know, my whole team, we’re, we’re virtual and all that and we can service clients, you know, throughout the United States and. But it’s personally fun for me to connect with business owners, you know, face to face at, you know, trade shows and things like that. And you know, that energizes me as a business owner. Obviously I bring a different energy to that discussion. Instead of it being out of scarcity and worry, I’m coming there, like, this is fun. I get to learn more about these different businesses. And you know, and in some businesses, some business owners I’ve met, I’m like, gosh, I would just want to hang out with you because you’re, you’re cool people. So, so to me, I’m looking, you know, that’s what’s, you know, there’s a fun aspect that, you know, we can have fun during uncertainty. So it’s allowed.

Christy Maxfield 45:45
Absolutely. And creating space for the dialogue where we can express the concerns we have, but also create an environment in which we’re exploring the opportunities, we’re exploring the possibilities, we’re using a more future-oriented approach as opposed to a retrench and protect approach. One of my colleagues talks about. It’s one thing to be the resistance, it’s another thing to be the change. And so what is the, how are you going to change the way you interact with this new environment and create something that is valued by your clients and customers, but also on some level, actually just makes the entire community more successful, more vibrant. So whether that’s through these one-on-one conversations, you can call them networking because they are. But it’s, you know, the, the approach Dean is taking is how do I meet you and what can I do to support you in navigating these rough waters? What can you do to support me in navigating these rough waters? How might we work together to understand this and how might we find the joy in just being in relationship with each other in order to find the energy we need to be creative in our own business. So one of the things I always have to remind myself is pushing through never serves me well. Soldiering is one of my colleagues calls it. If I’m soldiering for too long, I’m actually diminishing my capacity to achieve my goals. And so I need to take a break. And I never really learned that very well. And finding those opportunities to take a break and regroup and reflect and rejuvenate so that you can come back with more, more creativity, more energy, more enthusiasm and problem-solving capabilities.

Jess Dewell 47:48
I heard a quote today, one of the newsletters I read is called CFO Brew. They actually have a lot of brews and this is one that stuck with me today. I read, I think I read three of them. Ray Dalio said, I think that right now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession and I’m worried about something worse than a recession if this isn’t handled well. So how do we bring that down to our businesses in our day-to-day in our communities, in our regions as a small and medium-sized business owner? Well, what I took away from that quote was handled well. It’s subjective and so two somewhat. It came up for me right now because of what Christy was saying just now and the questions to ask and making space. And the second part of that really is so our decisions are not set in stone. And so a challenge that I brought about, what is a skill you could be using in finding out how much resilience you already have and how much capacity you actually have left for change is to challenge your decisions. What decisions have you made in the last 90 or 180 days that you can stop, that is going to be an interesting exercise because if we can say the decisions we made in the past are not set in stone, we now have a new place with which to act for the moment without losing sight of that far reaching goal that we have past this on the other side.

Christy Maxfield 49:22
Yeah, well, and clients I work with too are reflecting on I was preparing to sell. In the last two, three years I’ve been doing the work necessary to sell, thinking I would be selling in 2025. But now what? Right. And so rather than how am I going to make it another 10 years to get back to the multiple I wanted to be at, if that’s what they’re thinking it’s going to take, I would encourage them to look at what do you actually need and under the circumstances, what are the things you would value most in a good deal. The dollar amount is only one piece of that being able to continue your legacy, preserving jobs, being able to continue to work even as you’re transitioning through ownership, being able to have more free time and sufficient funds. So really understanding, like, what’s enough? What’s enough for me, what’s enough for my business? And if this moment in time is going to be longer or more painful or both than we were anticipating, what would I. What would. How could I still create an outcome that is desirable to me but undesirable on different terms? And I just think we’re always trained to just. I’ve got to strive, I’ve got to strive, I’ve got to strive. And it’s the biggest number and the most amount of this and the most amount of that. And frankly, I would take lower revenue and higher profit margin any day of the week. And if that’s what it takes to reimagine what your business looks like in this time, how can you look at your business through the lens of what makes it, what preserves the things that are important and what allows us to function optimally despite the challenges we’re facing?

Jess Dewell 51:34
Well, this actually makes me think of something that I’ve been working with for years, which is this concept of we make decisions with three brains. And it’s not my research. I’ve just been working with it since it came out. I will link to it. The two gentlemen who started doing this have eventually written a book called M Braining. And they do a lot of training about this. So the three brains that they brought to the table are our head brain, our heart brain and our gut brain. And before they had developed all their things, I went, oh, this is so great. I make decisions from my gut. This is amazing. So it was almost a little bit of permission to go, yeah, that’s an okay way to do things because it’s still supplemented. But all the other data we have, which I like, now, some of us, I’m going to go to our heart brain and our head brain here, because in addition to where we make actions from, it’s how do we show up in the world as we’re doing that, regardless of which brain we use? What I’ve added to that is you have the way you make decisions and the steps you take. You might do it in action. By the way, that’s me all the way. Take action, get data, adjust, keep going. Because if we don’t know what’s going on or we’re feeling stuck, the quickest, easiest way to understand which might be helpful is to do something. So what actually Ends up happening, then are other people get stuck in structure. So we. Okay, so action. We might be taking action to take action without stopping long enough to see how to adjust. So I’m going to bring that up as a skill. If that’s where you’re at, double down. Do I have I taken enough action to be able to be clear in that next step to support not being one of the 61% that doesn’t know what’s going. Companies that don’t know what’s going on. Tying strategy today to navigate well and clear. Now there’s this structure piece. The structure piece is I like infrastructure, I like this, I like data. We’re going to streamline, we’re going to do all of these things. Well, it’s easy to get stuck in that thinking we’re making forward progress when other things around us are eroding. And so we look to the data a little too much. We look to the bottom line a little too much. We not only just take what’s easy, we then get into the weeds. As soon as we notice we’re getting into the weeds, I challenge you to go, how do I step back so that I can actually see this from a different point of view? So we have what action we have. We have structure and then this perception. I gotta think too much, which, by the way, love the thinkers too much. But then it can turn into overwhelm of I’ve got too much and how do I make this decision. So wherever we happen to be, we can actually use one of the other two that I just mentioned to help us get out of that and have a second look. So that when we go to our advisors, when we go to our management team, when we go to our peers that we trust to talk about these relevant, real scary things we actually have, are open to understanding what they might say to help us take one step further. Because it’s about asking better questions.

Christy Maxfield 54:36
One of my colleagues was complimented on LinkedIn for her relentless optimism. And it kind of makes me think of like, if your kitchen cabinet might need to have one relentless optimist, one realist, one pessimist, one doomsdayer, one utopia focused individual. I mean, you’re kind of looking for, though, that combination of head, heart and gut and the ability to bring those perceptions and take those actions in a way that creates more depth than you would have on your own. So in a time where the instinct might be to hunker down and isolate, I would say take Dean’s call to action of, continue to be part of the mix. Make the time for those meetings, have those conversations, because they’re going to yield good things that you may not be able to measure on your KPI dashboard, but that will be part of how you make it through the uncertainty you’re facing. Because, you know, and the other thing that goes is like, even if the global economy were rosier, less unstable, less uncertain, each individual business and industry has its own disruptions in its own timeframe. So even when you’re doing great, somebody else is struggling. And the more we can encourage the behaviors that support that resilience, that ability to back bounce back, but bounce back in whatever new shape has been created by the stress you were under. That, I think, is a skill that will serve you well, well past what’s going on today.

Jess Dewell 56:27
Well, and to the conversation we’ve been having, Pam actually commented on LinkedIn. I snagged it to share here. She says uncertainty use to send me straight to spreadsheet spirals. And I thought that was brilliant. Like, yes, this is so true. And then she says, over time I’ve learned the real magic happens when you trust the system you’ve created. I didn’t get the whole, the whole quote in there. I ran out of room. But that’s the gist of it. And I love that she shared that because I think ultimately that’s what we’re all saying. We want to get to the goal and we can trust a little bit in that process. So now I want to know, Christy Dean, what are your biggest takeaways from today’s conversation?

Dean Barta 57:08
Well, I, you know, hey, just focus on, on what works on a daily basis and, you know, if you can just have fun with it because it’s, you know, it’s a mindset that you can either, you know, sit in the corner and worry or you can just be active and engaged and, and hell, let’s just have fun with it. And it’s like, whether you’re going up or going down, you might as well be laughing about it. So that’s my takeaway.

Christy Maxfield 57:45
For me, it’s thinking about what, what allows you to make it to the next inflection point. So what is that core that you’re trying to preserve? What can you focus on that creates some sort of a desirable outcome on the other side while you’re having fun getting there. But, you know, I, I, I would encourage folks to take away the idea that holding with a tight grip the way your business looks and feels today robs you of the opportunity to reimagine what it could be. If the goal is not about preserving it exactly the way it exists, but instead making it to the other side. So what might it look like to make it to the other side? And what do you want to be prepared to do when you get there?

Jess Dewell 58:36
My biggest takeaway is that, you know, we know business as we know it is changing. It is more constant than ever before, that change and that high pressure of the quickness of that change. So to survive and have fun along the way, my biggest takeaway was, hey, we’ve already done good work to get here, so how can we lean into that good work? And how can we challenge the decisions that we made before in a way that allows us to free up space and time and resources to be able to dial in to what we need to do today to get and make sure we have the Runway to tend to the uncertainty and the weirdness that is going to happen between our teams and their rest of their lives. So we also are navigating that. And that was my biggest takeaway was, oh. Everything we’re talking about today helps create space internally to support and create something that we can work through together. All right, well, can you believe it? We’ve come to the end of another. It’s your business. On the Bold Business podcast, I’m telling you what, packed with great information. So this why now? Constant change. This why now? Unprecedented levels of uncertainty. Why now? Everything that we know and do and the skills we have are necessary, so use them. That’s it, right? Why now? Everything that we know and do and the skills we have are necessary, so use them. That’s it, right?

Dean Barta 59:58
Sounds good to me.

Jess Dewell 59:59
That’s it until next time. Thank you so much for watching and being here.

Jess Dewell 1:00:05
Every single time I have a conversation, I take away something that I want to share with 25 people. I know when you’re listening to this podcast, you’re also listening for that and will have something that you want to share in the comments. I would like for you to engage with us. What is that thing that you want. To tell 25 people from this program? Here’s why it’s important. It’s important because, yeah, there are going to be how to’s. Yes. There are going to be steps. Yes. You’re going to be like, oh, I Wish I wrote that down. I wish I wasn’t doing this and I could actually take action on that right now. But guess what? You’re not so engage right now because That one thing you want to share With others will be the thing that you can figure out how to incorporate in your business, in your workflow, in your style, Tomorrow.

Announcer 1:00:55
Jess hosts the Bold Business Podcast to provide insights for building a resilient, profitable business by deeply understanding your growth strategy, ensuring market relevance and your company’s future. It is bold to deeply understand your growth strategy. With your host, Jess Dewell. Get more information about how to drive solutions and reset your growth mindset at reddirection.com thank you for joining us and special thanks to our post-production team at the Scott Treatment.