How to Pay It Forward for SMBs
We’re all facing a lot of uncertainty. It’s a really tough time for small business owners, but we’re certain we will need these businesses for our community to recover. It’s super encouraging to read about how our members are supporting each other by buying gift cards from local restaurants and retail businesses that can be used later. It’s a great place to start.
I’ve been encouraging everyone I know to think creatively about ways they can do more to support small businesses. And Jeff, a good friend of mine reached out to share his story with me. He wanted to find a way to help the service providers who’ve helped him in the past. So he reached out to a painter he hires at the start of every summer to power wash and refinish his deck.
Jeff called him up just to ask how he was doing, and whether he could pre-pay now for the job he would need doing later this year. The man was overwhelmed by his offer—said he was ok now but asked if he could accept the offer if things got tough in the future. So these two will now be in touch throughout this ordeal.
So here’s my ask for those of you who work with small businesses, or enjoy what they bring to your community: think about the businesses you rely upon, have as clients or or serve. Reach out to their owners to see how they’re doing. And… If you can afford it, ask how you can help, and spend what you can each week pre-buying the services you know you’ll need a few months down the road, once the dust settles.
Small business owners are Stronger Together. Here is our collective chance to pay it forward and help them survive.
Let’s pay it forward for SMB!
#SmallBusinessStrong
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Related content: Get the latest resources, support, and ideas for recovery in our Coronavirus Resource and Recovery Center
Comments (1-8)
Last night while sitting alone, an uncomfortable feeling began to permeate my body; it was anxiety. This potentially debilitating emotion can disrupt a sense of well-being and safety for even the most seasoned caregiver; which describes me. Not only do I know what it feels like first-hand, but both anxiety and fear have been the focus of a large part of my work as a health-care professional for many years. It was about 1am as I sat watching a movie on the computer. The uneasiness continued to grow and demand my attention until it had all of my focus and that’s when I took action. My intention here is to share some thoughts about what you can do when you’re caught in the jaws of disruptive, distressful emotions like anxiety and fear.
Some of you have felt similarly over the past few days; and, it is normal. These feelings and others like them, to include sadness, anger, doubt, confusion, guilt, and shame can leave you experiencing shortness of breath, heart palpitations, numbness, and pangs of panic weighing on your chest like an anvil. These emotional and physiological reactions are part of your sympathetic nervous system SNS activation aka stress response. When you have become aware that these, or other feeling states like these, are cascading through your body take a deep breath and sit with it for a moment. In other words, rather than attempting to avoid or run from uncomfortable feelings do the counter-intuitive and accept the experience. The opposite of acceptance is denial, which strips away the opportunity to effectively address it.
Once you have accepted the experience then it’s time to address it proactively. First, take a deep breath. Breathing deeply will engage your vegus nerve, a large cranial nerve in the lower back of your head near the hind-brain that serves as a transit station for information from the brain to the eyes, ears, mouth, throat and thousands of muscles in the face, to virtually every organ in the body. The vegus nerve, through a process called neuroception continually appraises the safety or its lack to and from the brain/body. The breath not only engages the vegus nerve, it also through interacting with the vegus nerve initiates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) to slow you down. When the PNS is initiated the system starts to relax and become calm. It is not possible for the system to be in a calm state simultaneous with agitation. The opposite of the PNS response is the SNS response which is what most of you will recognize as the stress response alluded to in the above. Additionally, repeated tension easing through mindfulness, meditation and other deep relaxation techniques will start to decrease the destructive stress response and start to reverse the ravages of unregulated stress. We are much more susceptible to thought provoked stress issues that go unchecked; for instance hypertension, high blood pressure, coronary heart issues, gut problems, runaway inflammation, and immunological breakdowns; than we are by the actual external events.
Another way to address the worry and rumination happening in your brain is to address the underlying limiting and negative beliefs that are often the instigators that trigger the distressful emotions. Ask yourself this question; “what must I be telling myself or believing to feel this way?” When you have asked the question, wait for an answer that may be in a statement, metaphor, picture of other message that the unconscious is attempting to share with you. The answer/thought is part of a formula/equation of how results are created in life as in (T+E+B=R); that is, thoughts, plus emotions plus behavior produce results/outcomes/consequences. Once you are able to identify the thought as in limiting belief, faulty value, bias or mind movie; you are then in a position to address that limiting belief by asking another question; “Is that true…is that absolutely true…./ that all is coming to an end along with my life?” No, it is not true! What is true is that in this moment you are safe, with food, water, and people around you that care.
So, acceptance, then directly dealing with the original thought or limiting belief is a suggestion. It would look like this, the original thought (ex. all is lost) is countered by reframing that original thought as in “I am safe, with food, water, and people around me that care…along with the realization that there is no immediate evidence to the contrary. Then you can begin to de-escalate and self-regulate your physiology along with your psychology.
I am not suggesting a Pollyannaish approach that buries one’s head in the sand and fails to take measures to insure safety and well-being in times of trouble. What I am saying is that it’s crucial to think about and address the things that you have some control over. For example, you can use the day to consume hours of news and latch on to loads of doom gloom radio shows, and get real creative in imagining every worse-case-scenario that you can think of. This approach will ensure that you remain tight as a knotted rope and as precarious as an old unregulated pressure cooker that’s been on the fire way too long. Or, you can turn off the TV news, the talk radio and the friends who can’t stop catastrophizing… then plan your day around taking time in the morning to visualize your body as fully protected in a bubble of brilliant light, mindfulness, exercising at home, taking walks, reading, watching movies, playing with your children and family and anything else that is proactive, positive and productive. Believe me, if something were to unfold that required action from you, your family and friends will be on the phone to let you know…and if not, you still have the ability to periodically check your news feed for the occasional update. In other words, accept the things you cannot change and change the things you have influence over. Take control of the conversation in your head. Don’t allow the inner critic to ramble on unchecked.
One last thing, practice self-compassion. Whenever you become aware that you are being mean, loathsome, cruel or dismissive of self; try treating self as you would a highly respected and revered friend, someone that you love. It is so easy to treat oneself with self-hate and say deplorable things to oneself that you would never dream of saying to anyone else, much less a respected and loved one. Be kind to yourself. Remember, if you are experiencing strong negative and uncomfortable emotions you are having a normal response to abnormal situations. Give self a break. These are not normal times and this pandemic is not a normal situation. We are truly in “interesting times.”
In the words of Telliard de Chardin, you are not a human being having a spiritual experience; you are a spiritual being having a human experience.
You are and deserve to be loved. May you be safe. May you be strong. May you be well. May you be happy.
Dr. Woody
I want to send a email to all of my clients letting them know I am here to support them during these difficult times. I am trying to find the words to put in my email and am struggling to get it all down on paper first. Needless to say, this has and will continue to affect my business in a negative way as it has so many other small businesses. I am willing to defer or discount my fees to help my clients out during these difficult times.
Any suggestions would be very helpful and much appreciated!
Any advice for me? I started my business 2/1/20. Prior to starting my business, I worked for an IT Recruiting company for 8 years. The company little by little was going under so I lost my job in December of 2019.
I took a step out in faith by starting my company. I have always been successful working for everyone else so I decided why not do it for myself.
My company is a Safe Haven Placement Agency placing Seniors in Assisted Living. I was really excited as the first month I did rather well. Then the virus put me at a total halt because on a daily basis I would go into Hospitals and Nursing Homes. I can't collect unemployment and the small business loan you have to be in business for a year. What can I do at this time in crisis?
This is a great idea for some small businesses. We appreciate the support we have received from our valued customers over the past month. It means so much that people truly care about your success as a business owner. 💜 SouthernMagnoliaScents.com
In these trying times, community is more important than ever. By pitching in and contributing what we can, we will get through this together. Think about it... can you drum up something to offer the community? Those you help will remember you after the crisis, making future business with them highly likely. It's time to pay it forward! Logitree is offering free professional IT support for business-critical computing issues throughout the recovery time for this pandemic. Send e-mail explaining your situation to technical support: [email address]
We hope to help you soon!
Pick up some fish tacos and a burrito for dinner tonight.
Hey Eric, you're definitely on the right track. To pay THIS forward, for so many of us, is so rewarding.
How many have not yet had an opportunity to see the benefits of using K Exchange for EVERY business.
See at www.karatnews.org or
Gr8fully, royston marples
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