The only true constant is change.

This is one thing I’ve learned over and over again in my life, and especially in my businesses.

Having some ability to adapt to change is necessary for every small business owner.

Maybe one of your suppliers runs out of, or stops making, a part you need for your product.

Maybe federal regulations change your ability to import a necessary ingredient.

Maybe the partner or spouse of a person who is critical to the functioning of your business gets an offer to work somewhere fantastic, but that offer requires them to move, taking your critical person with them. (And that “critical person” could be you.)

There are all sorts of situations that cause change in your small business. The real question is, how quickly can you adapt, so you can keep moving forward?

This is one of those weird situations that you can’t really “plan” for but you do need a “backup” in place when it occurs. However, you rarely know what that backup may be, because typically, you have no idea what change is coming your way.

Knowing This, How Do You Adapt to Change in Your Business?

For a business that creates a product of some sort, you either find a new supplier, or you learn to make that part yourself. Sometimes, you have to create that new supplier, by going to a company that already makes something similar and asking them to modify their process to make your part.

If an ingredient in a recipe becomes unavailable, you either find a new place to get that ingredient, or you find a new ingredient. Sometimes you have to go as far as changing your menu.

When you’re a freelancer, change usually involves a sudden increase or drop in your work. This is either because of an increase or decrease in the number of clients you have, or in the amount of work they’re sending you.

(By the way, the following is also true for businesses that produce products, just change clients to customers and work to sales.)

If you suddenly have more work than expected, you spend a lot more time working than you had intended. Sometimes this involves pushing back other clients’ projects, or your own work. Times like these are great in terms of income, but they can be frustrating with regards to your personal life.

The alternative is to find another freelancer you trust to do the work for you. Then you review the work before it goes back to your client to make sure it’s done to your standard. Sometimes this works, sometimes you end up redoing the entire project, and you have to pay someone else for work that isn’t up to snuff.

Again, if you have enough work (and therefore money) coming in, it’s usually worth it.

When you suddenly discover that you don’t have enough work coming in, you have to hope you’ve put the right systems in place to make up for that.

The first place you typically turn when you’re a freelancer is to your email list.

You do have an email list, right?

If not, you should.

Here’s a post on why you should have an email list, how to set one up, grow it, and what to write about.

Using Your Email List as Part of Your Adaptation Strategy

Why do I encourage you to use your email list first?

These people all know you (hopefully because you’ve been emailing them on a regular basis). More importantly, at some point they’ve all said “yes” to something you’ve offered them. They’ve opted into your email list and expressed interest in your product or service.

Everyone on your email list is what’s referred to as a “warm lead” in the sales world. They know your name (or your business’s name) and they have some inkling of what you do. They may have worked with you before or bought your products.

This is the best place to start when you need to increase your workload.

And you can do it with a simple email that looks something like this:

Hey Samantha,

Tanya Brody here, you contacted me a while back, asking about my availability for an upcoming project. Unfortunately, I had to turn you down at the time. But things have changed since then, so I’m writing to let you know some time has opened up in my schedule in the next couple of months.

If you’d like to discuss that project, or different one, please schedule an appointment with me by clicking on this link. It will take you to my Calendly page, where you can choose a time at your convenience.

I look forward to the opportunity to work with you in the near future.

Cheers,

Tanya

Obviously, if you’re a business making a product, you’d adapt this email to invite someone to try your product (or to buy another one, or an additional product).

If you’re a service-oriented business, you can offer a coupon for a discount on the price of the first service. If you’re courting customers who haven’t come in lately, you can do the same thing, but phrase the email so you’re offering them the discount for their next service.

What I’m trying to say here is, your email list is a very valuable asset, so make sure you use it when you need to increase your business.

Get the Word Out on Social Media

Social media is a great way to let the world know that you suddenly have time on your hands and you’re looking for clients. One quick post and you can reach hundreds of potential clients.

Ideally, you have a Facebook page, a LinkedIn profile, an Instagram account and a Twitter account for your business. (In the interest of full disclosure, I only have the Facebook page and the LinkedIn profile. I was going to make a business-only Twitter account, I just never got around to it. And I don’t do Instagram.)

If you don’t it’s still an effective way to spread the word via friends, family and those people you only know in the digital world.

Most people post about their daily lives. That includes changes in their work status. I’ve seen hundreds of people successfully land new jobs shortly after losing theirs. I’ve also seen freelancers fill up their schedules quickly by announcing they have time available.

When I started my freelance copywriting business, I wrote a post about how supportive my community was as I was starting. It all started with a “vaguebooking” post I put on Facebook and turned into an incredibly long and amazing post of people saying, “I’m so sorry to hear this” or “you can do this” or “hey, these folks are looking for a copywriter.” Check it out at the link above.

If you reach out to your social media community, you’re sure to get a positive response. You may not get work immediately, but word travels fast and you may have new clients knocking on your virtual door, saying “Hey, such and such person mentioned that you have time available to take on a new project…”

Again, for those of you with more traditional businesses, you can also announce your special, discount or other exciting news on social media to get customers in the door.

Update All the Online Profiles

This is a tactic particular to freelancers.

Because there are so many freelance job boards, bidding services and places to promote yourself as a freelancer, you need to go update your profiles. Yes, all of them. At least the profiles where you’ve gotten work in the recent past.

This is just another way of letting your clients know you’re available to take on more work.

For some of these services, you’ll just have to go in and change your status to available or post something saying you’re taking new clients. For others, you’ll need to look through the long lists of jobs available, make bids on those jobs and hope yours gets accepted.

These freelance websites are not my favorite way to get work, but they are effective when it comes to making sure the bills are paid.

Continue to Make Sure You Have the Ability to Adapt to Change

You will always encounter changes in your business. The more prepared you are to weather them, the better off you’ll be. And to be completely candid, if you can’t handle change, you may not want to run your own business.

That’s why you’re better off preparing for it whenever you can. When you can’t, make sure your business is agile and adaptable enough to survive whatever comes your way and thrive, once the crisis is past.

If you haven’t guessed yet, all of this is a very long-winded way of me announcing that I suddenly have time in my schedule. I am still working for FunnelDash, but my position has been reduced to part-time. I work for them on Tuesdays and Wednesdays now. The rest of my week is up for grabs.

I am looking for clients to fill in that gap.

If you have a copywriting project coming up in the next few months, please schedule an appointment with me by clicking on the button below.

I am also offering a new business development and marketing consultation service. We meet weekly or monthly and I walk you through the process of setting up and marketing your business. I’ve done this for a few people now and they’ve found it very helpful. More about this service in next week’s blog post. (You’re welcome to make an appointment to find out more about it in the meantime.)

For those of you on my email list, you’ll be getting an email similar to the one I wrote above.

For those of you who are friends with or follow me on social media, you’ll be seeing posts soon.

And yes, I’m going to go update all the online profiles.

As always, thanks for following along on this crazy journey of mine.

How Do You Handle Change in Your Business?

Tell me about it in the comments. I’m always interested in how business owners weather the ups and downs of their industries.