Future-Proofing Your Business: Real-Life Strategies to Prepare Your Business for Tomorrow, Today

INTRODUCTION: The Universal Lesson of Business

Business today is no different than business 8 years ago, 80 years ago, or 800 years ago. It has a cycle, a flow, and a transaction process that does not change. The only thing that changes is what business represents to you, and how you let that representation affect your future. People are still people, and they transact with people as they did 8, 80, or 800 years ago. They will transact the same way in another 8, 80, or 800 years from now.

Obstacles in business are simply the manifestation of your fear-based reaction to what is going on around you at that time. And each and every one of those reactions you have today will, in some way, impact the way you choose to handle the future—as you are, in fact, creating the future by the way you deal with the present.

So, before you turn the next page of this book, I want you to consider that the things you may learn will not only help you turn any current business obstacle you may have into an opportunity; they will also help you in your business when times are not so tough and even when business is great.

I have learned what I consider to be the most valuable lessons in business amidst crises, economic downturns, and potential business failures. These are the times when I have stopped, stepped out of the business—if only for a moment—peeled back the layers of nonsense that brought me there to begin with, and considered what just happened to me. Then I gave some serious thought to how I could ...