I sense other business owners are reluctant to admit out loud that their minds are already whirring, planning how to seize opportunity, land grab and out-manoeuvre slower to act competitors.
There are bigger, more important things to concern ourselves with, clearly. But, like me, ignoring your instinct, your propensity to seek out, explore, imagine, strategise isn't natural to you. It's your instinctive reaction to being challenged kicking in, like an adrenalin shot sending your imagination into overdrive.
Don't feel bad; you are not alone; nobody wants to shatter the comfort blanket of sentiment that surrounds us all now by admitting their creative mind is in entrepreneur mode. At the risk of being exposed, tarred and feathered as an insensitive a-hole, you and many other adventurers are behind closed doors, quietly focussed on what's next, uncovering winning moves, and even preparing to launch new ventures.
The reality is we can't all make ventilators or build temporary hospitals. We're not all qualified to administer healthcare or compile complex stats. Instead, we're supporting the cause in different ways, without questioning why. We're doing our bit without a spot on the news or cheer in the street. And when grey clouds part and the tide turns on waves of new optimism, we'll be the ones re-setting the compass and leading recovery. Invention and ambition will carry our communities and us on those waves towards safety and prosperity.
Our dining room tables, once the reserve of the Sunday roast, have become action hubs at the centre of plotting a course beyond humanitarian crisis. Yielding in battle is not an option for entrepreneurs; we're not ready to sacrifice our dreams and ambitions yet. We've worked too hard to build what we have so instead of licking wounds or painting the garden fence we're using the time we didn't have to figure things out. To soul search, question, think. We're calling on our gifts of steel, endeavour and creativity to do what we know best to protect the families we recently re-discovered and seizing opportunities to thrive and support one another better than we did before.
Here's to the creative minds that will shape our future.
You might find this useful too https://www.bravedog.co.uk/journal/to-be-or-not-to-be
Stay safe & well
Nick