— by Pierce Brantley

The train was thirty yards to my left and I couldn’t move my car off the tracks. I looked with white-knuckle eyes at the vehicles in the lane ahead. The ones out in front had done that survival-instinct-swerve where they push through an intersection in an attempt to get their way before a redlight. But the light was red. So in the end, they just caused a four-way roadblock for the other drivers. In thirty seconds, gridlock would be the least of my problems — if I had any problems to look forward to at all.

“Move, Pierce.” I told myself to act amidst the sounds of my heart and locomotive horn. But there was no road on which to move. So I floored the gas, thrust my car up onto a concrete ledge and shared wheelspace with a large truck on the rightmost side of the road. 

The train flew past on the tracks behind me. If I had taken any longer to think, it likely would’ve been my last thought. 

I pivoted. I acted. I survived. 

My survival was good news. I was alive and grateful. I’d live to see another day. But though I was grateful, survival was all I accomplished. Even though I dodged a train, survival was not the destination I intended.  The final destination was still in front of me. Once I’d gathered my senses, I had to move forward. The journey wasn’t over.

The coronavirus epidemic came at entrepreneurs like a train out of left field. The virus came so fast, that everyone did what they knew to do. They reacted. They survived. Flexibility became an asset. But while reacting is great for survival, you cannot build an enterprise from constant, non-stop reaction. Your business will be like a side-swiped ping pong ball. You will stay moving and you will have momentum, but you won’t have direction — at least not guided direction. Eventually, without a plan, you’ll come down. 

Now that COVID-19 is here, and possibly here for a while, it’s time to re-adjust. We can survive through flexibility but we will thrive through planning. So how do we move forward given this new reality? First, we ground ourselves in scripture. Let’s look at a favorite verse of mine from the book of Proverbs:

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. 

Proverbs 16:3

If there is one thing the epidemic fostered, it is a sense of survival. But that’s not a good thing, at least not long term. Survival for a business, comes as a last resort; when there isn’t a plan of action. Now am I saying that the pressures put on a business during this season could have been avoided? Not likely. The pressure is unprecedented. But pressure shows us where we need a plan. We wouldn’t feel it otherwise.

The best way to get out of the pressure of survival mode, to move from pivoting to planning, is to commit what we do to God. However, this commitment cannot be just a simple prayer for help. In the ancient author's words, we can feel a sense of waiting. A desire from God to partner with his people. You can almost hear the firm, confident tone in the invitation. What incredible work could come from partnership with the Almighty? What unknown might be pioneered? What might be possible with the person who commits their plans to God? 

But consider also, the ramifications. Consider there is nothing for God to establish which has not been committed to his care. 

Moreover, to the extent we don’t know the details of what we’re committing to the Lord, there may be nothing for him to establish. For example: how could he establish a risk management plan when there isn’t one written? Or how can he bring in the right hires if there isn’t a hiring plan? How can we be sure of God’s involvement if there is nothing specific for which to involve him? We would never partner with a third-party without some specific definition of success. God deserves the same honor. This is a type of first principle for the faith-driven entrepreneur. Commit what you do, so there can be something to do. 

How then, do we move from pivoting to planning, so we can commit our way forward to God? There are three questions we must ask ourselves:

• What does survival mode look like for my business?

• Should goals change when I’m in survival mode?

• How do I know I’m advancing towards the right goals?

If you get these questions right, you have a foundation by which you can partner with God during hard times. Let’s look at each question in detail.

What does survival mode look like for my business?

Survival is a funny thing. Survival can feel good. The adrenaline rush which comes from dodging a train is a good one. But if we get into a habit of just avoiding bad outcomes, we can easily start redefining success as “we’re good at avoiding bad outcomes.” 

If you avoided a bad outcome for your business recently, fantastic. But if avoiding bad outcomes becomes a pattern, then your business is in survival mode. Something needs to change. 

To discover if you’re in survival mode, do an internal audit on your business and see if there are any systems and processes that never thrive. Perhaps it’s your churn numbers, a KPI that has been missed, or a particular type of client that always borders on just breaking even. Find the problem, define what success should look like and then (and only then) commit that definition to God’s guidance and providence.

Should the goal change when I’m in survival mode?

When I dodged that train near Mineola, TX, I had two options: get out of my car, or find a way to move forward without a road. If the train was any closer, I may have simply abandoned the vehicle. Sometimes we want to change the goal because of the pressure surrounding it. The goal can look like a failing sales target or a process in need of expansion. But the question remains: do we change the goal because of the pressure or do we allow the pressure to help us find a creative solution? The answer lies in whatever gets us out of survival mode the quickest. Land on your goal then confide in God about it. After that, unless he guides you in another direction, stick with your goal; you’ve it committed to him.

How do we know we’re advancing towards the goal?

If a goal is a finish line, then mile markers are milestones — checkpoints you pass which inform your progress. In order to get out of survival mode, you need to know you’ve made progress at putting survival behind you. This takes careful planning. But there’s another benefit: when you plan out milestones, you learn whether or not your goal is achievable. 

For instance, if you have a personal sales goal of $1M a quarter, but you discover your sales cycle takes six months, then you know something needs to adjust. The goal doesn’t necessarily adjust, but perhaps the path forward. When you know your milestones, you can bring them before God in prayer. When you don’t, you end up praying a different kind of prayer.

Once you’ve found answers to these questions, prayerfully commit your way to the Almighty. Be specific with the details, and then write them down so you know how to thank him in the future. This is what partnership with God looks like during hard times.

God desires to partner with you. You’re made for a relationship with God, and that relationship can and should extend into your business endeavors. Best of all, God is more than willing to help you with your plans and the work you do. He will help you dodge the train. This is the benefit of having a Godly grind — a holy, set apart “called career.” You can work from a perspective of supernatural partnership, living from a position of calling, so you do not get stuck in survival mode.

For more information on COVID-19, please see our page highlighting some of the best resources out there for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs in this season.

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[ Photo by Match Sùmàyà on Unsplash ]