“How to Launch a Business During a Worldwide Pandemic,” and Other Lessons Gleaned While Hyper-looping Out of Lack Mentality.
After living in the Bay Area for almost a decade, I returned to the homeland — Minnesota, in late 2017. At the time, I was *cough* Life Coaching (a term I have always been slightly allergic to due to the high number of Follower-driven “guru’s” spouting bumper-stickerology from their IG pulpit’s . . . but I digress). I was more than a little disillusioned by the business sphere I had found myself in, and felt that I was not fully able to integrate the business acumen that I had gained during my years working in tech. I was at a point of pivot.
I noticed that the majority of my clients had the same through-line in their current life narratives: they wanted to leave their job and start their *dream* business, but were not sure how to do it. I found myself leaning into the strategic side of my client’s needs, creating business plans, marketing strategies, advising on content curation, building websites, etc. etc. etc. One day, in late 2019 I had an “ah-ha” moment — “I should do this.”
So, I wrote the business plan for Kreativ Collective, created my IG and declared, “ 2020 is going to be my year!” (insert ominous laughter here).
The first 3 months of 2020 were amazing. I had such great internal momentum. Kreativ’s visibility was growing, slowly but surely. My vision for the business and my brand felt firm, and I was ready to grow Kreativ Collective into everything I knew it could be.
Then March of 2020 came. The lockdowns began. People were afraid — unsure about the future of the economy, of their businesses, and of their families’ well being. And no one was spending money as a result.
Every call I made went unreturned, every email I sent went unanswered, every proverbial door I knocked on was shut in my face. It was not good.
I found myself losing momentum very, very quickly. Was this the right choice? Is this a sign I should be doing something else? It was hard for me to see the value of creating a Branding Agency when it seemed like the world was ending.
After a few months, I looked up from my pity party to see a world changed. My experience on LinkedIn shifted from observing people sharing business tips and tricks, to sharing deeply personal information about their Story through the pandemic — how it has affected their business & their lives.
I saw the pattern of people letting their professional guards down repeat itself over and over. People were straight up asking for help in revamping their resumes, in finding new jobs after being laid off, in how to deal with excessive workloads as one of the final few employees on staff.
I also saw businesses realizing their need to pivot, and quickly, in a digital market. Antiquated ways of approaching marketing & communication were no longer going to serve them in this new realm. They needed to act & act fast.
Additionally, I noticed that big advertising & branding agencies were not able to maneuver the new landscape of limited budgets, and were themselves struggling as a result.
I saw the new need.
In late 2020, I repurposed Kreativ Collective to meet the needs of the market in real time. I didn’t have a full staff (I literally, had one person working for me at the time), but realized this could be to my advantage — I was agile, I was hungry, I knew I had my finger on the pulse of the collective need, and I knew I could add value.
The greatest Lesson that 2020 brought me was to “Let It Go.” To not hold on to my idea(s) of what something (or someone) should be, but to stay actively present with what is and to allow myself (and my business) to pivot in light of what stands before me. 2020 taught me to step into Abundance and step out of Lack.
Lack Mentality would have preferred me believe that the world was ending, and that it was useless to pursue my business.
Lack Mentality would have preferred me scouring job listings because it’s “safer” to work for someone else in this financial climate.
Lack Mentality would have preferred me to read the statistics of small business closures and see it as a huge red flag against starting my own business.
Lack Mentality is just fear-based decision making. It keeps us in a state of dependence. It keeps us living small lives.
When we are able to move in tandem with — instead of fighting against — what the world throws our way, we expand. When begin to learn to step out of our limiting beliefs of what life is and what it will always be, and we step into the limitless possibilities of all that Life could be.
