I’m no Pollyanna. This is a very tough time. People are hurting. People are dying. Businesses are at risk. As I plow forward day-by-day, I’m holding my breath, waiting to exhale, anticipating what life will be like on the other side of this pandemic and its devastating effects.

Today’s beautiful Nebraska weather made a difference. Fresh spring air and sunshine, cool breeze. The sunset was stunning. And here is what it helped me realize: hope reigns supreme. I have friends whose businesses cratered two weeks ago. I mean revenue went to zero. After a short time of despair, they rallied, regrouped and imagined a way to breathe new life into their revenue streams – and it’s working.

Peter Drucker, known as the father of business consulting, said, “There are only two things in a business that make money – innovation and marketing, everything else is cost.” (I wish all our clients believed this.) I believe he was right. Maybe this mark in time, this suppression in our pace of life and economy, is pressing on us in such a way to force out big ideas or new ways to solve problems, get things done, meet goals, reach higher than ever before. Marketing is the only way, then to tell the story of our Phoenixes. Look at the cranes in my photo. They denote innovation, growth, hope, faith, optimism. Look at that stunning flaming sunset, lighting a fire over our heads to cause us to look up, catch the fire and fight. As we hunker down necessarily in the next few weeks…as we muster energy to be our most productive under the cloak of stress and uncertainty, let’s all take time to breathe, to dream, reimagine and decide we will embrace change and the new way of life we will encounter after this storm. When we do and when you are ready to put your innovations to work, tell the world about them. I’m for you always.