Light at the End of the Tunnel? Or Thermonuclear Explosion?

By guest columnist Tom Hayes

As Small Business Week greets us again, I am thrilled that so many of the finer qualities of small business people are being celebrated. But as a member of this grand fellowship, I know that one quality, above all others, allows us to stay on this side of the sod. We believe we will succeed even when there isn’t a dollar on the horizon and misfortune is building a permanent basecamp in our lobby.

I remember one particularly tough stretch. It seemed that our troubles would never end. But to our surprise, Riley Hayes was invited to participate in an RFP to create the graphic design system for a major global airline. Our competition was tough. Big New York design shops and formidable local shops were all vying for the business. But frankly, we needed the work and gave it our all. Our creative director came up with a stunning design system that could be applied to everything from television spots to cocktail napkins.

And, miracle of miracles we won! This was the light at the end of the tunnel. This would launch us into decades of prosperity and banish struggles. Months of hard work followed. Finally, the time came for us to unveil our great work to corporate leaders who were flying in from around the globe.

It was a major event. And fortunately, it was a beautiful night. We had a jazz quartet greeting our guests in the lobby. We had fine hors d'oeuvres and a log fire on our deck. And best of all, we enjoyed enthusiastic applause when we presented the work. It was magical beyond my overly expansive imagination.

I drove home all aglow. This would be the red-letter day that I would tell employees about for years to come. And it is true, our trajectory was soon to change and there hasn’t been an employee to come through Riley Hayes that hasn’t heard the story of the glorious evening of September 10, 2001.

Now, let me be clear, whatever travails 9/11 brought our agency, they are infinitesimal compared to the real suffering experienced by victims, their loved ones and our nation as a whole. But still, the orgiastic future that once lay before me was no more.

The airline shut down its marketing, which made up 60% of our billings. Another 20% disappeared when Marquette Bank merged into US Bank just over a month later. To paraphrase Miracle Max in Princess Bride, “We were MOSTLY dead.”

But to quote Max again, “There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.” That little bit of life was something we could build on. So how is it that we survived? There are a handful of lessons that I can share that made a difference. It is also true that when we ignored those lessons, things did not go well.

Persistence. Don’t let your energy or your focus flag. As my old coach, Ron Kostelitz, would say, “As long as your legs are moving, you will be okay.”

Think anew. Don’t let what brought you success in the past calcify into what you will do forever. Meet the new world with new thinking.

Create with Joy. As you create the next iteration of your business, be sure to avail yourself to the joy that comes with creating something new that will serve others in a new way. Joy is the amazing elixir that makes bad times fade from memory.

So is every small business doomed to go through tough times? Like parenting a child or being in a long term relationship, it is just part of the territory. Get over it. If you get a chance to visit with other small business owners one-on-one on a beautiful summer night, in a well-stocked pontoon, they will generously tell you their own stories of peril.

But what about those small business people that claim to have had nothing but success? Ignore them. Odds are, they are spinning plates like the rest of us. Our friends in recovery remind us that we should never judge our insides by other people’s outsides.

So if you should ever be deceived by what you thought was a light at the end of a tunnel, know you are not alone and that your story will not end as long as you continue writing it.
 

About Tom Hayes
Tom and his team at Riley Hayes have been Creating with Joy since 1991. Tom is also a speaker and coauthor of Relevance: Matter More. Connect with Tom at thayes@rileyhayes.com. 

Views expressed by guest columnist reflect those of the author and not the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.