The Only Real Constant In Business (And How To Embrace It Confidently)
I don’t like change.
Change disrupts my day, my life.
I am a very routine person, and I like to keep it that way.
I’m also a planner. How can we go about our days if we don’t plan?
It’s like organizing, yes, I like things to be organized also, and if my days are not organized, I feel “off”.
But let’s face it, things come up and days don’t always go as planned.
It can be frustrating for me.
There are times when life just takes over, like a car has problems and you can’t get where you are to be, or a refrigerator dies and sends you on a cleanup and fast replacement shopping.
The day no longer goes as planned.
I have experienced these types of “interruptions” plus more.
And I know you have too.
We all have our busy days and our own life ‘disasters’.
As the years have moved on, my organized, planning, and strict routines do tend to shift.
Years grow us and oftentimes change us.
Sometimes we notice (kid is now driving 😬) and sometimes we don’t (I am a year older? 😳).
Moving time does change things, and us.
And I am trying to believe it is for the good.
I mean, if my kid did not grow up to drive, that would be a bad thing. 😁
I say this because my Grandma always had a good perspective on life, and I try to remember her ways of thinking.
So many people say all the ‘growing things’ as your children grow, like “I can’t believe he is crawling, I can’t believe he is walking, and now, I can’t believe he is driving.”
When my Grandma was with me during these moments, or even said them herself 🙂, she would always follow-up with “but that’s a good thing, if he wasn’t growing, that would be a bad thing.”
We may often think back in time and wish we could hang onto those times, keep our kids young and not have all the ‘changes’, just stay in that life period, but that wouldn’t be life.
Embracing Changes in Business
When I talk about my routines and planning, I do this with so much of my life and always have.
But it’s also something that I work hard with in my career as a
Virtual Assistant as well.
I work in an organized, planned way for both me and my clients. I strive to make detailed plans for their priority tasks and work consistently to make them run smoothly so they don’t feel a hiccup in what they are doing.
An example is
email marketing. I create a strategic plan for how we will use it, a plan for the content, and when the emails will be sent. I ensure drafts are done at a certain time in the week so they are read, approved, and scheduled to hit the inboxes on specific days.
But there are times when changes hit business, sometimes making it tough.
And I know you feel that at times also.
Business changes can often feel overwhelming.
For me, it is not about the work itself, but the technology.
I love the work, I love what I do, but when technology makes changes, it throws things all around.
It can feel like you have got a great routine going, you are organized and working in a steady, great mode when suddenly … the computer decides it is time to give you an update that you didn’t ask for.
Sure, updates can be really good, I do know this, but sometimes those large updates just change too many things.
There was a time when I was (**cough) younger and I actually loved a cell phone update with new features and ‘looks’ on the home screen. Now, I hold off on all updates to that phone as long as I can.
And what about social media changes?! It seems like those happen almost daily.
When I started
Virtually Brady, I don’t think Instagram Reels were even a ‘thing’.
And you wake up to emails telling you about things changing, like your URL domain will no longer be a Google domain but a Squarespace domain, and your
Google My Business is now in maps and searches and named something different.
It is hard to navigate sometimes.
After all, I am an assistant, not a technology engineer.
As technology makes changes for us and our businesses, we also have regular business changes, the ups and downs, busy times and slow times, and changes in clients and budgets.
It can be overwhelming and bring us some tough days.
I am just a girl who likes to sit at my desk and work how I work, but changes are always knocking on the door and we have to make adjustments.
The Importance of Embracing Change
As you may know, my true cardio is running each morning, but being a small business owner, this statement shared by Google made me laugh and also feel the trust in it.
We can all feel like we are running around in circles when we are working our businesses.
As I mentioned before, I am very much a person who lives in routines and makes plans.
Even with my running, I have planned every mile of my morning run, playing the same playlist so I know where I should be at in the run with each song, keeping the path the exact same day in and day out, like running on a very large outdoor treadmill.
Just recently, as I took off on my run, there was a big sidewalk closure, not just a section but a full block or more.
Yes, I looked ahead to see if I could just make it by and stay on the path, but it was dug up, all dirt, no cement, a full construction site. And I am not a trail runner, give me the cement.
As I stood there with my playlist on pause staring ahead, I knew my only choice was to change it up or go home. UGH.
And I will be honest, it gave me a little panic because I love my run in MY routine.
So many people would just say “so, run somewhere else.”
Yes, I know, this is not something that is going to cause me terrible trouble but in my mind it was terrible trouble.
So, I turned around, hit play and took off in another direction of cement and found myself just running all over to different areas of the neighborhood.
And you know what, I enjoyed it.
I saw new things, ponds, geese, ducks, new paths and all things.
Yes, I knew there were other parts of the neighborhood, but I had no desire to run through it, it wasn’t my path.
The next day I took another different path, just literally took off and ran wherever.
And this is so not me.
But finding new enjoyment in my run was amazing, and super surprising to me.
It may sound like the simplest, silliest thing, but the change experience has been eye opening.
This running path change made me think, what if I work to be more open to change?
How To Prepare For Change Without Feeling Overwhelmed
Overall, life is full of changes whether we want them or not.
When it comes to business changes, it will help us and our business if we prepare for change before it even happens.
We can’t do that specifically for all things, but we can have some plans to make it easier.
When you are more prepared, it helps changes feel less overwhelming. So with that in mind, here’s a quick checklist of how you can prepare for change in business so that you can embrace it confidently when it comes your way!
- Mindset
It’s so important to change how we think about change. Be positive and acceptable. Yes, changes will happen so we must believe they will be good. Prepare for them instead of ignoring them. Instead of “I don’t like change" we know they will come up so let's look to accept them the best way we can when they do.
- Use Slow Times to Grow
We have no time to get all we want to do during our busy times. Maybe we want to try new things but simply can’t dedicate time to it yet. When business has those slow times, this is a great time to adjust and try those new things, make some changes you do welcome.
Keep a running list of ideas and new things you want to try. And when we have a sudden change in business, this list also can help you make adjustments and changes that are needed, keeping you positive through the process.
- Know your Audience
This is a staple for the business overall, but as changes come into the days, months, and years, when you know your audience and customer base, it is easier to decide how best to handle the change.
For example, when 2020 spun in with the pandemic, businesses were forced to shut down. Instead of just accepting that change and doing nothing, many looked at this sudden change and started to prepare other ways to continue business.
They knew their audience would still want or need what they offered so they opened e-commerce online and got more creative using social media and emails to communicate more with their audience and service them more electronically than in-person, maybe even doing drop-off deliveries. If they had only stayed closed and didn’t prepare anything new, they may not have survived.
- Engage and Know your Audience on Social Media
As I mentioned, social media is always changing. Do you know where your audience spends most of their time? Are you engaging with them on the platforms as they follow you?
When you engage with your followers on social media, you stay in contact with them so if big changes happen and they are not seeing your feed as much, you know they are there, you can find them and engage with them, offer them new items and services, send them DM links and open a new way to communicate.
- Listen to your Customers and Clients
Paying customers and clients can drive change for your business so it is good to ask them what they are looking for in terms of products or services. Don’t be afraid to ask them, they are your loyal base and a positive asset to your business. ‘Changing with the market’ is considering what your client needs and gives you insight into how you can better serve your customers.
*BONUS TIP. Do the updates. I am someone who drags doing a tech update, let’s get on a system of being updated. 😀
As the world moves to more of a technology-run world, we will forever have these changes so let’s stay ahead with them as best we can.
I will never stop being that girl who has a routine, planned and organized day and life, and while I still don’t ‘love’
change, I am working to accept changes better instead of feeling panicked, especially in my business.
Whether change is thrust upon us or something we decide to do to grow business and achieve new goals, it is best to be open to the changes, and more prepared so we can adapt to them and improve our lives for the better because time keeps moving life forward whether we are ready or not.
If I can accept change better, I know you can too. 🖤
If you need help with the changes in your routine, and running isn’t your cardio in business, I would love to partner with you and help you get there, connect with me
HERE.
I'm Brady.
I'm a
small biz virtual assistant, specializing in helping you stay on top of your day-to-day tasks.
HERE'S HOW I CAN HELP.
