Back in 2019, Wharton’s J. Daniel Kim published research that the average age of the most successful entrepreneurs is…..45. This bucks the long-held belief that to be an entrepreneur (or at least a successful one), you need to start a firm in your teens or 20’s– and because the stories of entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates get so much media attention, it’s easy to think of their stories as the norm rather than as the exception.

Back in April we published a blog with our top tips for selling and marketing in a pandemic. Seven months later, with COVID surging again around the world, we’re doubling down on our previous advice.

It’s tougher than ever to land new clients, whether you’re in a services business, a technology business, or you do a little of both. The truth is, when there’s massive disruption from external forces (in this case a virus that just keeps on kicking), it becomes more challenging to get buyers to adopt new ways of doing things, or working with untested (at least by themselves) technology and/or services.

Well, here we are; Q4 2020. When staff first started to work from home in Q1 (depending on where you are in the world), it’s unlikely many of us imagined we’d still be managing an almost entirely remote staff today.

Late last week Christina Blacken (Founder of The NewQuo.com) kindly shared with me a paper she’d authored titled “Change the Status Quo Through Your Narrative Intelligence”. What’s “narrative intelligence”? Blacken writes “it is the ability to leverage the psychological power of story to change behavior and inspire action.”

If you’ve spent any time in the marketing research or marketing performance sector (where I still spend a good chunk of my consulting hours), storytelling is paramount to delivering truly meaningful insights. Yet management teams seem to largely rely on traditional leadership practices, or as Blacken notes in her paper, those driven by “fear driven narratives around money, success, identity and leadership.”

With so much uncertainty surrounding us (pandemics, elections, trade wars…even murder hornets), it’s easy to get caught up in what feels like day to day survival and forego annual planning. That said, when it feels impossible to plan for the future it becomes even more important to ensure you have guiding objectives and strategies linking the company’s future to the present day.

With nearly record levels of unemployment globally and an ultra-competitive business marketplace, a strong personal brand can you set you, or your company, apart. Unfortunately, for many, a personal brand is often perceived as something only ownable by industry luminaries, or only worth focusing on once a certain career level has been achieved. So, what to do if you’ve under invested in the creation of it?

We’re doing a lot of scenario planning these days for risk adverse firms that are looking to scale in a business climate that is still experiencing volatility and uncertainty. Although we’re seeing increased hiring for mid-level roles, often times C-level roles (even those desperately needed) go unfilled due to overhead cost concerns.

Despite advice to the contrary, most organizations rely heavily on in person events to drive sales activity, which has left many adrift in a sea of cancelled events and online event pivots. How do sales teams, accustomed to in person sales, network and drive lead generation in an event with no opportunity to interact with prospective buyers face to face?

With travel at a standstill for most of the world, most vacations are turning into “staycations”. Regardless of how you’re spending your downtime this year, at ScaleHouse we’re advocates for continuous learning. Here are some of our favorite business reads that you can sprinkle in between murder mysteries (or the book genre of your pick!).

Whether you’re thriving or just focused on surviving in business in these tumultuous times, there are a few key activities you should consider: