Turn Fear into Success

This month has been tough in terms of financial stability. On August 4, the stock market crashed more than 500 points - 4.31%! Everybody stopped shopping and stopped spending money. On October 19, 1987 the stock market fell by 508 points, which then was 22.6%. Far too many people pushed the panic button at that time and that led to a serious recession. Don’t let fear be your guide.

If you look back you will see this is only a warning to change how you run your company. President F.D. Roosevelt, addressing the depression then summed things up very nicely: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

I always remember what a pharmacist and DME entrepreneur in Vermont did at that time. He ran a major sale. There were very large signs in the windows of both his pharmacy and DME showroom. They said “BE PREPARED.”

He offered bedpans and urinals at a special low price for one week. I no longer remember the prices, but they are insignificant. What is important was how many new sales were developed and how many new customers came in. I recall seeing an island in each location with both bedpans and urinals stacked up high. When the sales period ended he had sold many cases of each. Nearly everyone who walked in purchased both. This was his answer to that precipitous market decline.

You are a professional and an entrepreneur. Your DME/HME company has an excellent reputation! You have a family to feed, your employees also do, but most important is you have a large number of customers and patients who need you.

Look again to your assets. You are the proprietor of a successful company that has concerned employees and loyal customers. They can guide your company and help prevent a recession. Show the way in your community and all the other entrepreneurs will follow suit.

Do not allow fear to influence what you do! I remember how Adlai Stevenson addressed fear: “I feel like a small boy who stubbed his toe; he was too old to cry, and it hurt too much to laugh.”

Our country has always worked itself out of any problem and will do so again. Start the ball rolling! Be a leader, not a follower. Have no fear!