CREAM SHINES AGAINST EVEN THE BLACKEST OF BLACK TIMES | IT WILL RISE TO THE TOP

Mar 15

As numbers continue to rise around the world for COVID-19 cases and deaths, the fear we all feel rises with it. My family and I live in Seattle and the feeling of: wanting it to rise fast so we can be done faster and not wanting it to grow at all is a real thing that is hard to explain and hard to admit. Yesterday, both of my son’s baseball teams announced they are closing ‘until April’ and while there is a piece of me who hopes April will bring baseball, it is a very small part … because I know in my gut that April won’t bring anything more than life being changed even more than it is right now. With whisperings of the National Guard coming here to close us all down for 2-6 weeks paired with the ‘non worriers’ continuing to post about how the flu is “way scarier” … this is a surreal time in my life and the life of my kids, who have been out of school for over a week.

Adding to all that is the fact that I am a small business owner. I am also the bread winner in my family … and along with many others, we have a life built around my income. In other words: my income stops, so does life as my family knows it. Watching restaurants, like Tom Douglas’ MANY spots in Seattle, close for the ‘time being’ and hearing about my friends who have parents who own bars and restaurants in town and how business has come to a crawl, it makes me wonder: what will become of everyone? How will we continue to thrive, keep our homes, keep our cars … or even buy just the basic necessities like food … when the economy drops because businesses can’t stay open:

HOW DOES THE CREAM RISE TO THE TOP?

During a ‘down economy’ the cream will rise to the top … those with the ‘business survival instincts’ and biggest portfolios will survive this. Those who have already proven themselves in their industry will be able to come back strong when this is over … those who have memorable brands and a name that is referred from other businesses often will come back from this. Essentially, the people who started when they had to use just themselves to build a brand:

WILL SURVIVE THIS

Now, they may have to bring their prices down once business starts rebuilding again … they may have to take on clients they wouldn’t have normally taken on … but the businesses who had SOLID RELATIONSHIPS and a GREAT REPUTATION will be the ones who will still be standing after this is completely done.

things to do during this time to protect your business

If you have built your business depending on social media alone, I’m worried for you. If you built your business on styled shoot images and posted those photos on Instagram to gain clients, I worry for you. If you haven’t spent time creating, cultivating, and building relationships with REAL business owners in your area who are structured in a way that is also built on RELATIONSHIPS, I worry for you. If you don’t have relationships with the reputable and popular event and wedding venues in your area, I worry for you. I have blogged about this before … which is that some business owners and people starting new businesses have become lazy …

IS THIS POST MEANT TO SCARE YOU?

No … but it is meant to confirm what people who started their business before the ‘overnight success’ stories that social media “brought” have declared … which is:

I DO MORE THAN JUST POST TO SOCIAL MEDIA. I INTERACT WITH PEOPLE.

I wrote a blog post a year or so ago that lists 13 things that successful businesses in the wedding and event industry do and unfortunately, those things aren’t done overnight. Which is why, a time like right now will be the greatest test of what will shine through everything that is happening during this pandemic.

AM I GOING OVERBOARD WITH WHAT I’M SAYING RIGHT NOW?

I really don’t think so. Also, consider that I’m the last priority for most business owners right now … a new website isn’t what people are prioritizing right this second (but when this starts coming to a close, it better be one of the FIRST things business owners prioritize … because standing out then will be HUGELY IMPORTANT) … so, my saying all this isn’t helping myself one bit right now … but, I do believe, it’s honest. It might not sound ‘awesome’ but I do believe it’s the truth. And when I started this blog, I vowed to be ‘raw’ and completely myself … even if it meant turning someone off from hiring me.

Keeping relationships strong when you are the one on top is a SKILL … the luxury planners and photographers out there stay ‘the cream’ because they continue to be a business and brand that other business owners want to work with! Do the best photographers in the world work with the best wedding planners in the world because of coincidence?? NOPE!!! They grew TOGETHER … most of those companies who work together constantly to create the wedding and events we all swoon over, started in the trenches together … they developed their businesses around the same time … and, you guessed it:

IT WAS BEFORE SOCIAL MEDIA

But, Heather, you always stress on this blog how important it is to keep up with social media posts! YEP, and I still am! That’s where the people are … but, during a crisis like now, people are looking at other stuff instead … they are looking to the news and the numbers … they are on Twitter getting the latest COVID-19 updates for their area … so while continuing to post is important, I feel it’s more so we don’t lose focus … people will see your posts, you will remind them you exist … which is VERY important … but it’s also so we keep our ‘blood moving’ so to speak … it’s all the ‘other stuff’ … the FOUNDATION you have laid for your company with relationships that will be what keeps you standing tall after this. Your character and how you treated people will carry you through …

DO I HOPE I’M WRONG?

Of course I do!!! I hope I am beyond wrong … I hope everything I wrote here never happens and that all the small businesses are ok … but in my gut I feel that this will be the biggest clean-out the wedding and event industry has ever seen … that the businesses who can’t cut it and didn’t ‘dig in’ enough during the ‘good times’ will have to shut down or consider opening way later down the road … and a purge isn’t the worst thing to happen …

Think about when you get a facial … and all that gross stuff below the skin is brought to the surface … your skin looks like sh*t for a week or so … and after that, it is GLOWING and better than ever before …