This is a YouTube video titled "178: Shifting in an Uncertain Economy" created on March 27, 2020. The content features a motivational and practical talk addressing economic uncertainty and unemployment challenges during a crisis. The speaker shares personal experiences, encourages creativity and proactive problem-solving, and offers specific advice on pivoting business strategies and income ideas. The speaker also references their Instagram page "Natalie Jill Fit" for additional resources and community support. The content is a monologue without multiple speakers.
Foreign Friday, where I share an insight from me to you, getting really real out there. I mean, two weeks ago, we were at 220,000 unemployment claims. Last week, 290,000. Close it. This week we're looking at two and a half million or even close. And I know you all are feeling it. Even leaders that you listen to are feeling it, even if they're not all talking about it. And what I want to share is it's not a time to panic. I know we all hear that. But it is okay to feel it, is okay to be aware. And it's really important at this time to also really be proactive and creative. And there's a difference between being proactive and creative and worrying and complaining. Because worrying and complaining won't get us anywhere. And believe me, as I share this, I'm someone who's very prone to worrying and complaining. So it's a forever battle in my mind trying to stop myself, interrupt myself and think, okay, what are the actual facts? And how can we be proactive and creative? And what I want to share with you is amazing. Incredible ideas are always, always born in hard times. They're always born in hard times. If you've been listening to my podcasts here on Leveling up for any amount of time, you know that every interview I've done, every story I've shared, those incredible success stories all came out of truly tremendous setbacks, tremendous failures, tremendous hardships, really rough times. It was in those times that those creative pivots and ideas were always born. Now, I've been an entrepreneur personally for years, and I've been through some very, very hard times. In fact, I'm 48 right now as I'm recording this. And I remember in 9 11, during 911 years ago, feeling these same feelings. And the year after that, I lived in the Northern Virginia area when there was a sniper attack. We were not physically able to leave our houses for three weeks for fear of being shot by a sniper. And that felt very isolating because it was local to that area. So this, today, what's going on in the world is a familiar feeling to many of us, especially if we're in our 40s, 50s, and beyond. And we really remember those times clearly. And going through those very hard times, you know, you've all witnessed that incredibly lucrative times usually follow those. So here's what I want to share today. What does not work? What does not work? If you're really, if you're feeling the, the heaviness of this all, blaming it doesn't change Anything to blame. We. It doesn't matter what we believe politically, who we think is fault, what we think is at fault. Blaming doesn't solve anything. Doing nothing and worrying. When we worry and we do nothing, we stay stuck. It's a mindset game. Your mind does not know the difference between reality and what's not reality. And if we really focus on worrying or doing nothing, that's where we stay. What else does not work is being naive and thinking that this is just going to pass. It is important to be aware without worrying. Be aware and think about how you can shift. What also doesn't work is not being open to pivoting. If you're in a business, for instance, or you're in a situation right now where you are really stuck with, wow, this is not working in my life. This is a doomsday for my business. This is all over. You've got to force yourself to be open to pivoting, to really thinking. What else could you do? What else are you gifted at? Where else are you skilled? What also doesn't work is just pushing or selling or offering more of what you've currently been doing. If it's not working right now, you see if what you do, if your business or what you sell or what you've been creating or focusing on, if it doesn't match the current situation, it will not feel aligned and it will not be something that people are interested in. So continuing to act like nothing's going on and push or sell whatever it is that you've been doing, that's not going to work either. What also doesn't work in a time of crisis and setbacks is when you don't come from a place of service or helping. I see a lot of people, especially when I scroll social media, really worried about themselves and I get it. But it's when it starts being really evident that it's just about them and they're not really looking at everybody as a collective whole and how they can service and help others, that doesn't work either. Okay, so what does work? What does work when you need to create something from nothing? Here's what I want to share. Getting clear on what problems people are currently facing. So the facts about it, like what are the actual problems that people are facing? What are those? Now, they can be really basic things, they could be really serious things, but get clear on what's really happening in people's worlds right now. What are they worried about? What are they scared about? What are the actual problems people are facing? Getting clear on that and then getting really clear on what skill set and knowledge that you personally have that can help solve this for people. Now, these can be massive problems that you can help solve, or they could be very minimal. And just to give you an example of like a minimal thing, I was talking with some of my girlfriends about, you know, we've been sending memes and jokes around about how, what are we all going to look like after quarantine? You know, many of us, we color our hair, we cover up our grays that are growing in or, you know, I have a lot of friends that do do eyelashes. You know, they go in, they get eyelash extensions, and they can't do those on their own. And it's interesting to watch how some businesses are really pivoting to help that problem. Now, that doesn't sound like a world crisis problem. Of course not. But it is a problem that people want solved. And I witnessed one of my friends, who's a hairstylist, send out a message on Facebook saying that, hey, I'm a hair stylist and obviously I can't see clients right now. You can't come to my salon, I can't go to you. But what I'm offering is a Skype session to teach you how to do your own roots. And then I'll drop off the mix for your hair, no touch delivery service. I'll drop it off for you, and we can Skype while I show you how to do it. And I thought, wow, that's super creative. And that's such an example of taking a problem in the current reality and coming up with a solution that you're actually gifted at solving. And I thought, that's so creative. Now, whether you think that's a basic problem or not, it's still a problem with people. And it was a very creative solution. So when you get clear on what problems people are facing and you get clear on what skillset or knowledge you have that can actually help solve that problem, you're creating a win win. And creating a win win situation is what always works in times like this. So I'm going to tell you again, now is your time to get creative. It's not the time to hustle you. It's a time to get creative. Use the time that you have, the time that you've been gifted to brainstorm, think outside the box. Ask for brainstorming help instead of complaining or validating things going wrong with friends, Create brainstorm groups, get on FaceTime or that app, House party or Zoom or Skype and brainstorm ideas of what you can do to solve current problems, things that are in your control now. I if you are struggling and you personally are really stuck for ideas and you're in a bind where you're facing unemployment and you don't know really how you can earn some income right now, I'm going to encourage you go look on my Instagram. My Instagram's Natalie Jill Fit and there's two places I want you to look there. The first is under Story Highlights. I don't many of you know, some of you don't, that when you click a profile picture you can view stories and those stories typically stay up for 24 hours. But I've created a highlight reel of some of my best stories. There is a category that says Income Ideas. You'll see it right under my picture. It says Income Ideas. If you click on that I did create and I've been sharing and I'm continuing to share different ideas that people are sharing with me, things that I'm thinking of, of ways you can earn extra income. And then if you look on my same Natalie Jill Fit page, you'll notice there's a a post there where there's a picture of me and I'm holding a coffee cup. And under there I'm also sharing more on this topic and encouraging you to comment and ask your questions so we can all support you as a community there. So anyways, hang in there. We're all in this together. We truly are. We're all feeling it. Leaders are feeling it. Successful people are feeling it. People that were struggling before are feeling it. Everyone's feeling it. But this is the time to get creative and really look at how can you use your gifts to help serve and help the collective whole.
