This weekend I was writing in my journal about a reading from Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening.
It discusses hard things and soft things, and how the soft things bend.
It took me straight back to the year my daughter Alaina left for Rotary Youth Exchange. She was 16.
There were so many steps along the way.
Passports, visas, trips to Houston to meet with the Brazilian consulate staff, and plans that changed and then changed again.
My friend Nancy, from my days in Hannibal, Missouri, was the Rotary Youth Exchange officer for that district, and she guided me through all of it.
Every time I tensed up over something I couldn’t control, she’d tell me, “Blessed are the flexible, because they will never get bent out of shape.”
I’ve been thinking about that line a lot lately.
Things are changing fast in our world right now and it’s hard to know how to grow a business when so much feels uncertain and unclear.
I understand the instinct to grip tighter – when the ground moves, holding on feels like the responsible thing to do.
What I’ve learned instead is that the live bough bends. The dead twig snaps.
A green branch bends in a storm because it’s rooted and alive.
It isn’t bending to every wind. It’s bending from something solid.
At the beginning of the week I was listening to Elise Loehnen’s podcast, Pulling the Thread.
She shared an idea from her guest Michael Meade’s most recent book, The Heart of Transformation.
We can’t stay in control and go through real change at the same time. Something other than our usual self has to take the lead.
So what do we root into?
I believe it’s our own personal journey.
Going deep enough to find what is uniquely important to each of us, and then letting that show up in how we run the business.
At ProfitCon this fall, Sam Horn said something that stuck with me: In a crowded market, you can be one of many and forgettable, or one of a kind and memorable.
When things feel uncertain, the temptation is to watch what everyone else is doing and copy it. That’s the brittle choice.
The flexible choice is knowing what matters to you so well that you can let almost everything else change.
This week, think about what in your business is truly yours, the thing you’d keep no matter what shifts around it?
Hit reply and tell me. I’d love to hear it.
Cyndi
Quick Summary
- The lesson: “Blessed are the flexible, because they will never get bent out of shape.” Cyndi Thomason learned it while guiding her daughter through a Rotary Youth Exchange year full of changing plans.
- Why it matters now: Growing a business in uncertain times tempts owners to grip tighter or copy what everyone else is doing. Both are brittle choices.
- The flexible choice: Like a live branch in a storm, a resilient business bends from something rooted, not to every wind.
- What to root into: What is uniquely important to you, showing up in how you run your ecommerce business.
- This week’s question: What in your business is truly yours, the thing you’d keep no matter what shifts around it?
Growing a Business in Uncertain Times: FAQ
How do you grow a business in uncertain times?
Start by getting clear on what is truly yours: your values, the reason you started, and the things you would keep no matter what changes. When that foundation is solid, you can let tactics, channels, and plans flex as conditions shift without losing your direction. Your Profit Team founder Cyndi Thomason describes this as bending from something rooted rather than bending to every wind.
What does “Blessed are the flexible” mean for business owners?
The full saying is “Blessed are the flexible, because they will never get bent out of shape.” For business owners, it means staying adaptable about the things you can’t control while staying anchored to what matters most to you. Flexibility isn’t the same as having no foundation.
Why is copying competitors a risky strategy during uncertainty?
When the market feels unclear, it’s tempting to watch what everyone else is doing and follow along. That makes your business one of many and easy to forget, and it leaves you without a foundation of your own when conditions change again. Building on what makes you one of a kind is both more memorable and more resilient.
Why does holding on tighter backfire when things change?
Gripping tighter feels responsible when the ground moves, but rigid things break under pressure. As Cyndi puts it, the live bough bends and the dead twig snaps. You can’t stay fully in control and go through real change at the same time.
How do I figure out what’s truly mine in my business?
Ask yourself what you’d keep if everything else about your business had to change: the customers you serve, the way you treat people, the products you’re proud of, or the life the business is meant to support. Whatever stays on that list is what you root into.
Related reading: Purpose and Meaning: Why Did You Start Your Business? · What Would You Work Backward From? · How Big Is Big Enough?
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