There is one thing that many successful entrepreneurs don’t mention about their road less traveled — while starting a business, growing a brand and chasing their passion. It is a lesson that most of us know to be greater than any other.
It is the perfect storm of entrepreneurship: the backdrop of failures and highlights of success. Life’s personal challenges, uncomfortable business learning curves, struggles and setbacks …. It is the distance between where you are and where you desire to be.
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A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. – English Proverb
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The perfect storm that faces every entrepreneur can be likened to the “eye of the storm” where calm winds exist at the axis of your business and blue skies abound … but nonetheless you are in the midst of severe weather. It can also manifest as a storm, so severe that it seems impossible to overcome the centripetal force that jostles you recklessly – forcing you into uncomfortable pivots and confusing turning points.
A perfect storm is always persona non grata.
But like everything under the sun — it too, serves a purpose.
The Perfect Storm of Entrepreneurship
By definition, a perfect storm is a particularly bad or critical state of affairs, arising from a number of negative and unpredictable factors. This type of situation is latent to the very essence of entrepreneurship because where risk is plentiful, volatility can soon follow.
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A small business owner’s perfect storm reveals a serendipitous union of illogical and uncontrollable events that result in the best of times and the worst of times.
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A small business owner’s perfect storm reveals a serendipitous union of illogical and uncontrollable events that result in the best of times and the worst of times.
It’s the market volatility, pricing pressures, variations in business performance and demanding stakeholders that aim to get the best of you. Whether you spread capital too thin, underestimate time to market or struggle with expansion and your new role as a leader, the perfect storm experience is inescapable in business.
So instead of sticking your head in the sand when storm clouds brew, as an entrepreneur you will need to develop the necessary fortitude, resilience and perseverance to weather a storm. When the ground rumbles, when the waves swell, and the alarm sounds — resist the temptation to watch the waves come in.
In fact, you’ll need to learn to swim — because the conditions that give rise to your “storms” may be precisely what you need to catalyze you and your business into epic success.
How to Survive a Perfect Storm in Business
Storms cause destruction, but they also breed creation.
In a literal sense, at “any given moment, there are an estimated 2,000 thunderstorms in progress over Earth’s surface,” according to Learner.org. If you’ve been in business any length of time, you know that this similar type of chaos can aim to disrupt – from putting out small fires to encountering moments where you question your own resolve, asking yourself “Am I crazy for doing this?”
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I am not afraid I was born to do this. – Joan of Arc
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Entrepreneurs arrive at this place in business because like real storms, you can rarely predict the exact time, location, and intensity of your challenges. And when everything appears to be spinning out of control, when challenges strike like thunderbolts it is essential to see your way clearly, stay the course and move forward.
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