Becoming decisive — my approach to this new year
The past year started off bad. In January, I closed the three companies I had built over 15 years and filed for bankruptcy.
Due to COVID, supply chains around the world were gridlocked in 2021. I would receive no products during the first semester of 2022 and generate no revenue.
I could have blamed the pandemic and said that the fault was “out there”. But reality was that I had not built an anti-fragile organization. I had allowed my companies and myself to be exposed and I did not have backup plans or cash reserves.
For sure, COVID was an outlier event, nobody saw it coming and many businesses and their owners were severely hit, but still…
So 2022 was a year of licking my wounds, regrouping, searching deep within myself. My wife, family and close friends were of immense support during this whole period and over the months things slowly started to coalesce again.
If you have ever made plaster of Paris, you’ll know that it’s a strange process. I tried it once and completely screwed it up. You carefully follow the instructions and mix the powder into the water. As you end up with a white liquid, you’re thinking “I must have done something wrong, because it’s too liquid…?” So you add some more powder. And some more. And then, in a second, it becomes a solid…
