What's the worst that could happen?

Too often people get stymied by the possibility of something bad happening, even if the likelihood of that result is slim. Instead, what if you embraced the worst that could happen, visualize it and use it to help you move forward?

Listen to this new, 8-minute episode to see how “the worst that could happen” could really be an asset to you, instead of a roadblock.

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Below is a full transcript. If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or contact me via text, use the short form on this page, or call 732.422.6362

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- What's the worst that could happen? Listen to this episode, find out where I'm going with this one. Hi, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I've probably mentioned this before, but it certainly is worth repeating now that we're getting into, what are we about the first quarter of the year here, what's the worst that can happen? The thing that holds people back from some of their success is thinking about the negative, thinking about it. And you know what? That's actually a good thing to do. It's a good thing to do.

I remember reading a book, sorry, I can't remember which one it was right now, but they were talking about this guy who was a diver, who dived without any air tanks or anything like that and he was the world record holder on how long he could dive, swim underwater with no air tanks, no snorkel, no anything like that. And he was doing it crazy places, like under the ice in the Arctic and things like that. And he would think about what the worst that could happen is and then what he would do in those situations, which prepared him for what ifs. And you know what? The worst that could happen didn't happen, but it could have. And he thought about that, but it didn't stop him from doing it. What it did is made him prepared for what that would be.

So, rather than thinking, oh my gosh, that could happen. I'm not going to do it. If you think about what's the worst that could happen and where are you if that happens, what does that mean to you? Is it a life and death situation, like with this guy swimming under the ice or is it, no, this is just a minor setback. I had this discussion with the one of my sons who was looking to take a new job. And he's leaving the security of the job that he had and going to a startup and this. And I said, okay, so let's think about this. What is the worst that happens? Either you don't like it and leave or the company goes under or whatever, and you've had experience. That's always a life lesson there. You have money in the bank, you'll be able to pay your rent, you'll be able to find another job. You've moved up a level, in terms of the resume. So you're now have a better line on your resume for the next job you go for. And what's the worst that happened, right? You have a roof over your head, food on the table, and experience, so why not go for it? And in the particular case, he didn't like the job and he left a few months later, but it gave him experience, which then spring boarded him to the next one and now he's two levels up from there. So the worst that could happen wasn't so bad.

It wasn't actually the worst that could happen and now he's in a better place. And I think about that with, many of you can probably relate to this, if you've ever been let go from a job or had to leave, I had that with me. Best thing that ever happened, getting pushed off the cliff instead of deciding to jump. And you just have to make it work right from there. In my case, I knew what I wanted to do 'cause I had been thinking about it and I said to my wife, if I can't look in the mirror and tell that person how to start and run a successful business, then nobody should hire me. Nobody should hire me to help them. You shouldn't hire me if I can't do it for myself. You don't want the financial advisor who's broke or who is bankrupt. You want the successful person.

I treat myself like a customer all the time. And I think about this. If I try this new thing, what's the worst that can happen? And I've had stuff that has not worked and the worst that could happen is it cost me some money. That was it. Life lesson, moving forward, in most cases, in my business and probably in your business, the worst that could happen is it's going to cost you some money. You try a going to a wedding expo that you've never done and you don't get what you want. The worst that could happen is it cost you the money and some time. The best that could happen is you make new friends and you write business, right? And that's usually what happens. But you know what the worst is. I've tried advertising. When I first started my business, I paid someone to do, Twitter was the thing back then, because Instagram wasn't around 11 years ago, 12 years ago. And I paid somebody to do some email marketing for me and to do some Twitter ads. And I got a little, but it didn't bring back what I paid. That was the worst that could happen. Life lesson learned. Do I want to try it again? What did I learn that I could do it better?

Think about your business and think about your life. What's the worst that could happen? Many of you know that I'm doing language lessons. It's over two years now that I've been doing French lessons. And I think about that. I do it in every morning, partly because Duolingo guilts you into it with its gamification. But I do it because it's hard. And what's the worst that could happen if I get the lesson wrong? Nothing, nothing. Maybe in there gamifying there I fall down on the list or I get kicked out of the Diamond league and go back to the Obsidian league. That's a real thing actually. And it's funny because the first time that happened I was like, oh my gosh, I jumped back to the Obsidian league and I'm thinking, so what? So what? I've still done lessons every day. If I didn't do enough to stay in that league, so what? So think about it. What's holding you back because you're worried about the so what? Instead of paying attention to that, looking at that, and saying, you know what? The worst that could happen is not that bad.

Very few things in our lives are life and death things that we would actually consider doing. There are some people out there that do that. I have personally jumped out of a perfectly good airplane attached to a guy who had a vested interest in getting us down safely. So maybe that's my perspective on that. When I started TaeKwonDo, I had no idea that I would get a first or second degree black belt. What's the worst that could happen? Yeah, I might get hit, I might get kicked. I got bruised a couple of times there but I learned a lesson. Don't do that anymore. Don't do whatever it is that did that. Learn something better. It's the same thing in our lives.

It's the same thing in our business. What's the worst that could happen? It's a really good thing to pay attention to, but not to hold you back. And I think that's the point. What's the worst that can happen is something you should know and when you really look at it and say the worst that could happen is it cost me some time, it costs me some money. If that's the worst that could happen, that's not so bad and it's not likely that that will happen. But now that I've seen what the worst is if it does happen, I'm just going to move forward. And you've done that already. You've had things that haven't worked out the way you want, you just moved forward. It wasn't the worst that could happen. It just wasn't the results that you wanted. So next time you're going to make a decision and you're held back because something bad could happen, take a look at it and say, okay, yeah it could. What is the worst that could happen? Can I mitigate that risk by doing some things and is the best that could happen worth the effort of taking the risk of what's the worst that could happen? Well, I hope that gave you something to think about. Thanks.

I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

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What's the worst that could happen?

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