In March 2020 my agency lost 25% of its clients in one week.
But that is neither surprising nor interesting.
It was the start of lockdown in the UK. Shops, restaurants and borders were closed. Heaps of agencies lost clients.
What’s interesting is what happened after. How, in the following six months, we grew back to pre-covid size, then a further 20%, before being acquired.
The story is in the bounce back.
I remember watching X Factor as a teenager. When an artist was voted off the show they would sing their final song and say their final words. They would swear that this wasn’t the end. That they were going to come back stronger and prove everyone wrong.
In that moment, every sentence started with “I will.” It had to. That aspiring rockstar was in the bounce. Rock bottom. They hadn’t yet began the bounce back. But that’s where the story is.
The story of the bounce back is “I did” and “we did.”
"Here’s how I transformed a bad situation."
"Here’s what I did after I hit my lowest point."
"Here’s how we responded when our business faced obsolescence."
If you have those stories - tell them. Share them to help others turn failure into success.
If you’re in the bounce, resist the urge. Straight after failure, right when adversity hits, is time for confiding in close friends and plotting how you’ll go again. In private. Asking for specific help from select people. Getting your head down to work through and write the story you’ll tell in the future.
It’s easy to make grand intentions in public. Rarely do people see them through. But you don’t need the instant gratification of talking publicly about failure when it happens. You’re not a victim. No one needs the details straight away.
Instead, make your bounce back plan. Put the blinkers on.
Action that transformation into existence, then share with the world.
