Tag: Climate Change

Take Advantage Of Lucky Breaks

My tiny part of the world
has been having
pleasant temperatures
and reasonable rainfall.

I see what is happening
in the rest of the world.

I know how very lucky
I am.

I’m grateful
every d@mn day for this weather.

And I realize
it is due to
mostly luck.

I know we’re getting
a lucky break.
I know that lucky break
won’t last forever.

So I’m taking advantage of it
AND I’m preparing for
the time
when that lucky break ends.

If you receive a lucky break,
realize that is what it is
and ensure you make the most of it.
Don’t assume it will last forever.

A Small Business Owner’s Risk Is Not Everyone’s Risk

I was chatting with
an online buddy
and she told me
she insists every customer
entering her store
wears a mask
because she can’t afford to get sick.

She is a small business owner.
If she’s ill,
her income drops to next to nothing.
She doesn’t have paid sick leave.
She doesn’t have insurance
to cover her illness.
She is on her own.

The calculation of risk
for us,
for business builders,
is significantly different
than the calculation of risk
for other people.

We can’t afford to do
things other people do,
like run around unmasked,
not have an alternative power supply,
etc.

Factor that
into your decision making.

Plan For Heat

In my corner of the world,
Cadbury doesn’t sell chocolate
via Amazon
during the summer months.

They can’t assure
the chocolate won’t melt
in the increasing heat.

A buddy runs
a small clothing business
in Arizona.

She closes her physical store
during the height
of the summer
and focuses on online business.

Her physical store
has air conditioning
when the grid is functional
but people arrive
quite sweaty.
And trying on clothing
during heat waves
often renders any not-purchased clothing
unsellable to other customers.

Climate change is happening.
The heat will continue
in the future.

Plan for it.

Does Your Model Still Work?

Weather prediction models
are based on a stable jet stream.

The jet stream
is no longer stable.

And the weather prediction models
no longer work
for any predictions longer
than a day out.

I suspect
we are all basing decisions
on models
that no longer work
in today’s world.

I know I am.

In the past,
as one example,
if readers downloaded
one of my free books,
11% of them
would read the entire series.

I built my rate of return on promotions model
around that read-through
(sell-through)
number.

But that read-through number
is no longer applicable.
Very few readers
now read the entire series.

When I modified
my rate of return on promotions models
and applied the new
read-through number
(plus some other factors),
none of the promotions
I was considering
made a return.

Do your models
still work?

Go Outside If You Can

If the weather
and air quality allows it,
go outside
for a few minutes.

Find a patch of green.
Look at a plant.
And the sky.
And the ground.

Focus.
Pay attention.
Notice details
like the veins on a leaf
or the shape of the clouds
or the moistness of the soil
under your shoes.

Forget everything else
for a moment.
And absorb your surroundings.

Once you’re relaxed,
go back inside
and get back to work.

You NEED this break.
You don’t think you do
right now
but you need it.

Take it for yourself
and for the business
you’re building.

Just Because It Isn’t On The News…

A buddy in another country
told me
she was so relieved
the fires in my country
were now out.

The fires aren’t
out.
There are more fires
today
than there were
last week.

The news has
merely stopped
covering the fires
because they and viewers
are bored of that coverage.

Don’t make business decisions
based on the news coverage.

Do your own research.

Death Threats Happen In Every Field

Recently,
a high profile meteorologist resigned,
sharing that he had PTSD
from death threats
due to him covering climate change.

He is shifting
to a science role,
thinking he won’t get
death threats in that field.

That might be true
for HIM.
He is male and white.

But for anyone
who is not male and white,
the death threats
will likely continue
in that science role.

I’m female.
I have always received
death threats.

I received them
while I was a student
at a university.
I received them
while I was in business.
I receive them
now
as I write romance novels.

I will always receive death threats
because
I’m a female
and I have an internet presence.

Shifting fields
likely won’t stop
death threats.

Learn how to deal
with them.
Take them seriously.
And keep yourself safe.

The Cost Of Complete Certainty

Scientists have been warning
about increases in temperatures
due to climate change
and the impacts
that will have
on power grids
for years.

Some leaders
don’t ‘believe’ in climate change.
They claim to be 100% certain
it doesn’t exist.

So those leaders didn’t upgrade or modify
their power grids.
The grids, as predicted,
are going down
and people are dying.

THAT is the cost
of 100% certainty
– there’s a lack of preparation
if any other scenario happens.

If the leaders had been
90% certain
climate change
didn’t exist, for example,
they might have mitigated
the risk of the 10% scenario
happening
and worked on the power grids.

There is a cost
to complete certainty
or,
in this case,
complete denial.

If you’re 100% certain
about something,
consider the costs
of being wrong.

Starting A Business Has Always Been Hard

Starting a business
in today’s
pandemic, climate change,
and
fascist
stricken world
is
admittedly a challenge.

But starting a business
has NEVER been easy.

In one of my niches,
I started
before there was
a market for the niche.
I started with
a couple readers (customers)
and the same number
of competitors.

I would approach readers
one by one
in other niches
and sell them
on my niche
and my books.

Today,
the challenge is
the market for the niche
is TOO crowded.

But the market also
has quite a few readers (customers).
And I no longer have to convince
prospects
that the niche is worth trying.

Don’t allow
the challenges
of today’s business environment
to stop you
from making your dreams
a reality.

They CAN be overcome.
As different challenges
have been overcome
by others
in the past.

The Revival Of The Travel Agent

Four years ago,
many people declared
travel agencies to be
a dead business.

It was super easy
to book flights
and hotels
and other vacations
online.
There was no need
to pay a middle person
to handle that.

In today’s environment
of climate change
and pandemics,
wars
and strike actions,
that has all changed.

Many people would love
to pay extra
not to have to worry
about all of that.
They would pay
to have someone else
monitor situations
and quickly rebook travel
and accommodations.

The key words
there are quickly
and monitor.

But those two requirements
are made easier
with AI.
Alerts can be set up.
Alternatives can be offered.

Dead industries
aren’t always dead forever.

Consider basing a new business
on one of them.