By 
There is no sugar-coating it, being an Entrepreneur is a tough call. . This is in part because the world is experiencing constant major upheavals. Third world entrepreneurs in addition to the global economic crunch are also facing economic and political instability occasioned by bad leadership. This adds to their mounting list of challenges. . Businesses globally live constantly under unimaginable pressure.Entrepreneurs are often badly hit by different waves of economic shocks and a lot of times it gets hold of their mental and physical wellbeing.
Truth is, nations under human government cannot be devoid of imperfections, so there is never going to be an end to difficult seasons. The entrepreneur should unfortunately expect endless pressure. The only thing he can do is to prepare it.
What then should an Entrepreneur do when facing hard times ? Here are a few tips that may be helpful. :
1)Be strong
Running a business whether personal business or not is not a stroll in the park. It is not for the lilly hearted. You have to have guts and thick skin to be able to withstand the constant pangs asociated with leading a business. Your faith and mental health are two things you must do everything to protect irrespective of the situation at hand. Profit or loss begins in the mind. . Without a sound mind you can't make sound decisions that lead to profit. In the same vein,consistent bad decisions will drive your business into fatal losses. .
2)Evaluate the situation
You must go beyond the situation and the attendant despair to ask yourself some critical questions about where you are.
Assessing and analyzing your answers in relation to the situation will help you to diagnose the root cause of your hardship. At least it will help to put some checks in place so that it will not repeat itself. Consider questions like :is the hardship self imposed or by external causes? What is presently working and what is not? How could I have avoided it a bad situation? What role did I play in enabling it? Is there any specific thing I can do to end the current situation or is all I need patience to wait it out? What should be the next step? Are some of the helpful questions you need to seek answers to when evaluating the situation. .
3)Seek help
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness nor does it make one a failure. Be bold enough to reach out to people who the capacity to help you. Don't perish with help all around you. Identify the right kind of help you need and ask for it. Some entrepreneurs seek spiritual help in place of human help when hit by bad times. Whatever help is suitable is great Your only job is to make sure your option for help is capable and reliable. " As a Christian, when I find myself in a bad situation I know it's time to connect to higher energy, so I ask God for divine help and after praying,I refuse to entertain any form of anxiety. I rest all my trust and confidence squarely on God knowing that he will intervene and it has been working for me" says Sam Emery, a media practiictoner. Where will your own help come from? Yours could be from friends and relations. It could also be the banks. Go for it!!
4) Act wisely
Don't respond to pressure by making hasty decisions. Think all your moves though. It's important you make wide consultations before making major decisions especially in hard times. You could sink yourself deeper into problems that may annihilate your business or create new ones by just taking the wrong steps. Double check,make sufficient consultations and evaluate your options before making your moves. .Every great CEO is thorough thinker.
5) Look out for new opportunities
Hard times is often laced with new opportunity for breakthrough . But many entrepreneurs fix their eyes only on the problems and so they miss it. It's important to develop your problem solving skills and also train your eyes to recognize non apparent opportunities in the midst of the problems. Opportunities you could seize to turn things around. Also, identify what skill you presently lack that could have been helpful in averting your current set back if you had it and acquire it. In that way you would have taken advantage of the growth opportunities presented by the problem.
6) Be creative
Humans are blessed with a powerful tool and it's the imagination. The imagination refers to the part of human's that gives them the power to create . By harnessing this ability, you could innovate your way out of any situation. Some problems that are seemingly insurmountable become cheap when creativity is engaged. With the imagination almost everything is possible. Do not neglect your intuition when facing down times. The ideas it throws at you could be the turn around miracle you have been waiting for. Your imagination at one point will certainly help you either to avoid a problem or to solve one in your business.
7) Identify growth gaps
Any area of your business you constantly experience setbacks or challenges is an indication of the area you still have growth gaps. Places you are still deficient in knowledge.Long lasting hard times is often a pointer to the area of business your ignorance is still higher than your knowledge.. The set back will disappear the day you acquire the requisite knowledge or hire someone who has it. Grow and update your skills set and that of your people. Always look for opportunities to learn new and relevant skill that will put you ahead of the curve. It will be helpful in limiting or eliminating the potentials for hard times in your entrepreneurship journey.
8) Build a strong support system
Be Intentional about who you bring into your inner circle. Seek to populate your inner circle with trusted, empathetic and faithful friends . These are people who genuinely care about you. People who are interested in your success and will stick out their neck for you to get it. Never underestimate the power of surrounding yourself with mutually supportive relationships. They are timeless life line to whoever has them. Entrepreneurs who have strong and trustworthy people around them have proven to outperform and outlast those who don't. Appreciate and maintain relationships that have shown readiness to stand by you in challenging times . They may be your biggest treasure in terms of support systems.
In concussion , since you can't divorce tough times from entrepreneurship, it will be instructive to make the above tips your business companion inorder to help you overcome overwhelming times when they come around .
