Given that the home building market has tanked, to put it mildly, some custom home builders are concerned about the sustainability of their businesses, and rightly so. Fear is understandable. Giving up because of it is not acceptable.
Fear is a crazy thing. It has both the power to stop us cold and the power to fuel us through some of the worst of circumstances. But when fear has us in its grip, we rarely know it; we get used to inaction and a “woe is me” way of thinking. You might begin to believe what your head tells you when it says:
- “You can’t create a plan for your future, you don’t even know if you have a future!”
- “You aren’t good enough to pull out of the slump.”
- “Success in these market conditions is impossible.”
- “Life would be easier if you just let the bank have its way … you can start all over with a clean slate when the market turns around.”
Has one of these negative thoughts crossed your mind recently? From turning your cell phone off and not wanting to talk to anyone to being tired and feeling unappreciated, being paralyzed by fear is a common affliction. If you have allowed your concerns and fears about where the market is headed to slow you down, now is the time reverse course and allow your adrenaline to fuel your success. These steps can help you take control of your fears:
1. Appreciate what you have. Try this litmus test to gauge how dire your circumstances are by asking: Is anyone I love hurt? Do I or someone I love have a physical or mental challenge? Do I have to worry about not having enough food to eat or not having a roof over my head? These questions should get your thinking on the right track. Yes, your business may be taking a beating right now, but in the grand scheme of things your problems just might not be that bad after all.
2. Don’t allow your brain’s negative messages to control you. Your brain wants you to hunker down, be cautious, and not take unnecessary risks. The problem with this type of inaction, however, is that to survive today’s economic conditions you are going to have to step into the unknown, shake things up, and do things you’ve never had to do before if you are going to be successful.
Albert Einstein once said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” In other words, if you want to successfully ride out the current wave of change in the housing market, you’ve got to move beyond what you know and what is familiar and take a leap—no matter how scary—into the unknown. For instance, in many markets there is a huge untapped opportunity to provide residential maintenance, such as handyman services, carpentry, gutter cleaning, or equipment servicing. Margins for this type of work are excellent and for builders in markets with high concentrations of senior citizens or busy professionals, demand is strong. While it may not be your mainstay in the long run, it just may be enough extra work to keep your business afloat and your prized trade contractors busy.
3. Plan for the future. When you are planning a road trip to a place you’ve never been, you get out a map and strategically plan the twists and turns you are going to make to get from the start of your trip to the end. Creating the plan for what’s next for your business is no different. You’ve got to set these points from an unstoppable, I-don’t-care-what-the-market-is-doing point of view.
Look at the needs within your market and how you can participate in fulfilling those needs. Maybe there is a strategic alliance that you can form with investors or real estate professionals. Maybe there is a new niche of services, such as upgrades and additions to regular home maintenance, that you can provide your past customers.
Think about it: Not every builder today is struggling. Why is that? Maybe some markets aren’t as tight as yours. But in all likelihood builders who are surviving the current crisis have a plan and believe in what they are doing.
4. Believe in yourself. If you want consumers to believe in you and your homes, you’ve got to be confident not only in what you produce but in where you are going and how you are getting there.
Do not allow fear to slow you down under any circumstances, and when you feel cement setting around your feet, ask for help to get moving again. Ultimately, inaction—not the market, interest rates, or slumping consumer confidence—is your greatest enemy and the only person who can get you moving is you.
Follow your plan and have some fun. Life isn’t meant to be hard, and neither is surviving a dip in the housing market. You can do it … now get moving.
—Former contractor Clay Nelson is a radio talk show host, speaker, and business coach to home builders nationwide. He can be reached at clay@claynelsonlifebalance.com.
