#131 — When the Walls Close In — Emergency Pod

For profitable, large businesses, a downturn can be great for recruiting and retaining talent as there is a flight to safety and security. For small businesses that have focused maniacally on profitability from day one, a downturn in the market is also managed relatively well. 

This is in contrast to technology startups that often have to spend years building the product before they can monetize or spend the first few chapters of the company's life focusing on growth over revenue maximization. This means that in an economic downturn, these startups/teams/founders are the most vulnerable to shifting markets, especially those that are dependent on outside capital. 

This episode is the resource for how to manage one's own psychology, as well as the psychology of the team around them when building and leading a business like this.

In the episode, I outline tactics like getting comfortable with the worst case scenario (in order to maximize the chances of the best case scenario), as well as outlining the five guidelines for managing and optimizing your psychology in the midst of circumstances that often present a “fog of war” type of scenario for most leaders. In short, I put this together for you to avoid that scenario.  

The guidelines have more details within the episode, but they are here below as well for you to reference:

1. Assess and set *proper expectations* for yourself and the team.  

2. Find and orient towards a *higher ideal*.  

3. Manage your *mental wealth*.  

4. Question everything, *especially your own assumptions* going into this new environment.  

5. Find your *community of truth*.  

Please let me know what I may have missed in the comments and share this with any creator that may be going through the extremely intense situation of feeling like the walls are closing in on them. 

And if you are a creator in this scenario, please reach out to me on Twitter or Instagram if there's a way I can help.   

https://twitter.com/jamesbeshara

https://www.instagram.com/jamesjbeshara

https://bit.ly/Go_BelowtheLine

You can also always hit the show hotline and leave a question or comment for the show at 424-272-6640 // James questions directly at [email protected] // or follow us on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/gobelowtheline

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About your host, James: James Beshara is a founder, investor, advisor, author, podcaster, and encourager based in Los Angeles, California. James has created startups for the last 15 years, selling his last one to Airbnb, and invested in several multi-billion dollar startups to date. He has spoken at places such as Y-Combinator, Harvard Business School, Stanford University, TechCrunch Disrupt, and has been featured in outlets like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, and Time Magazine. He’s been featured in Forbes, Time, and Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” lists and advises startups all around the world. All of this is his “above the line” version of his background. Hear the other 90% of the story in the intro episode of Below The Line.

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