Are you struggling right now in your business? Not having enough clients, enough time to find them, or personal issues, making it hard to stay consistent in your business? You're not alone.

Nobody's life is perfect because, as humans, we're not perfect. Even the most successful encounter challenges and don't have their journey filled with rose petals only. The difference between them and those who give up is how they deal with such challenges.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. Because when life happens, you're the one needing to figure out how to tend to that while carrying on with the business. Here're some tips to make the most out of any unwanted situation.

Acknowledge that "life happens"

Dealing with tough situations, especially unexpected ones, is hard. It brings unwanted change that naturally we resist. However, the longer you resist and deny it happened, the longer and more challenging it will be for you to deal with it.

As humans, whenever we face change, we go through 4 stages:

• Shock (denial)
• Negative emotions (anger, sadness).
• Acknowledgment of the situation with exploration ("what's in it for me'). and
• Acceptance of the new reality.

When you come from the place of understanding that "life does happen," the first two phases of change will pass quickly. The quicker you can move to the exploration stage, where you look for ways to adapt, the faster you'll deal with the issue and get onto greener pastures.

Be prepared

Acknowledging that an unwanted situation will occur sooner or later puts you a step ahead in one more way. Because it allows you to prepare, and you should prepare when the sun is shining.

The same way Noah built his arc before the flooding, or the roofers can only repair the roof when the weather is nice; you need to prepare your business to run even if challenges occur when they're not there yet.

You can do many things to prepare, and some of them will be unique to your situation. A couple of must-haves, at minimum, is to have an emergency fund and a simple business continuity plan.

Having enough cash to run your business for 3-6 months (or longer), even if you can't bring any new income, brings a HUGE peace of mind when dealing with "life."

Having a plan on who does what and when if unwanted events happen allows your business to continue running even when you cannot support it fully.

Make planning your habit

Even without a catastrophic event, things can get derailed with small common issues: like a client defaulting on payment, your child getting sick, or an urgent need to help a close family member.

When you make planning your habit, it's much faster and easier to "juggle" things in your business as needed.

Planning allows you to be more productive on regular days. And in case of challenges, you can easily assess what can be postponed or canceled and what might need to be delegated or done. You can also decide to use your business continuity plan if you know that the unwanted situation will last longer.

Planning also allows you to communicate with your clients, partners proactively, and other collaborators, showing your professionalism and responsibility for commitments ... even if that communication is to ask for extended deadlines, for example.

It's never too late to start planning, and my DREAM-PLAN-DO journal can help you with that. It's a tremendous simple planning tool for your business that comes with an online masterclass.

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Focus on the lessons

When challenges come up, it's natural to focus on the negative side of those events. However, those natural reactions (anger, resentment, anxiousness) aren't serving you in any way, shape, or form. And if they last too long, they can derail your business.

It's OK to give yourself your time to grieve and go through those emotions, but the sooner you can move on to looking for lessons from the event, the faster you'll improve the situation.

Why should you look for a silver lining?

Because taking the time to learn lessons from unwanted events helps us prepare better for the future. It allows you to grow, and with it, up-level your business. It can give you insight into what you can do to either ultimately prevent the situation from happening again or minimize its impact on your life and business.

Take time to figure out the solution

Once you uncover the silver lining, now it's the time to think about solutions. Brainstorming is always a great way to start because you can always find more than one way to address the problem. And if you're stuck in what you should do and have no mentor, coach, or trusted advisor to help, ask yourself how someone you look up to would handle it, what would they do ...

Running a business with the mindset that challenges are a natural occurrence and that no matter what happens, you'll be able to figure it out gives you a tremendous advantage. That's how you'll grow your resilience, one of the essential skills of every successful entrepreneur.

Such a powerful mindset shift is what my clients learn to do in a Business Results Accelerator Mastermind. It's a comprehensive program helping female entrepreneurs grow their businesses by attracting paying clients consistently. If you're curious to know more about it and how it can help you hit your income goals, schedule a discovery call with me here.