Selling in a Crisis

16Be the Squirrel

The BBC documentary Daylight Robbery follows homeowners in their battle against relentless gray squirrels that clean out garden bird feeders. The homeowners erect ever more elaborate obstacles to keep the squirrels at bay, but there seems to be nothing that will stop the agile animals from getting to the birdseed.

Whether tightrope walking along washing lines, scaling walls several stories high, shimmying down wires, or leaping perilously from fences, roofs, and trees, the squirrels always find a way. They work at it from every direction until they learn to defeat even the cleverest of obstacles and contraptions and get to the one thing they desire most: birdseed.

To be sure, there are also hilarious crashes and lots of failures. But the squirrels never give up. Above all else, they are relentlessly persistent, and this turns out to be their greatest asset. When it comes to stealing birdseed, persistence is their superpower.

During an economic downturn, you are going to have days, weeks, and even months where everything that can go wrong, will. And I mean everything – both personal and professional. You'll hit so many obstacles it will make your head spin. Just like those squirrels, you may land flat on your back.

I've always believed that if you can look up, you can get up. The difference between those who fail in a crisis and those who survive and thrive is that when they are knocked down, bruised, and battered, they refuse to stay down. Just like those ...