When life throws you a curve ball is your mitt ready? A curve ball is undoubtedly referring to baseball and yet we rarely hear supporting details using baseball terminology when dealing with life’s curveballs.
(Just for fun COMMENT on the number of baseball references/terminology we use in this post)
While some of us here at the CEO might not be baseball buffs, we couldn’t help ourselves to make the inference:
We have a few choices when dealing with life’s curve balls:
1) Step up the the plate and smack that curve ball into a grand slam play
2) Swing and miss and get ready for the next pitch
3) If you don’t like the direction it’s (life) coming at you, give it a shortstop!
4) Intentionally walk through your process if it leads to better outcomes.
5) Changeup players
6) Ask a Coach of the CEO about the pace of play
The FINANCES curve ball
A creatives biggest curve ball might be the finances of running a business. While a curve ball is no surprise, how you manage it might feel like you’ve been thrown a foul ball. Let’s talk about being prepared for that financial curve ball (hello, 2020)!
Not every decisions will result in Three True Outcomes. That’s ok! Keeping score of your growth is highly recommend to reach a magic number. Sometimes the biggest curveball, or hardball, for small business creatives is understanding the financials. Getting comfortable understanding the financials of the business will allow for better planning. With the right foundation, even if you are well into you business model, a sweet spot can be found that will will lift loads of stress from the business.
When life throws you a curve ball, what will you do?
Often times we find the creative jumps right into the technician role – i.e., I can do “X”, so let me start doing X. I am good at X, I can start making money doing X. So said creative starts doing X, being the technician. The Creative begins to make and take. Make a product/service/deliverable and takes money into the business without necessarily understanding how and where and why the money land. Why is your product/service priced the way it is? There are a few benchmarks and reporting tools to be used to measure the success of a business on paper. Don’t be scared of the numbers. Numbers can be fun, once you understand them. The fun comes when you start turning the dials and see the applied changes affecting outcomes, hopefully in a positive direction. It’s NOT just about having money in a bank account but planning for the future, taking care of the present and learning from the past; understanding cash flow, reserves, expenses and more.
How will you manage?
Curve balls are manageable.
One curve ball doesn’t mean a strikeout, or an impulsive force play, or an outright waiver of your commitment to the plan. Sometimes we paint in the black to focus on the center over home plate.
Now that’s a home run!