I watched a thriving business collapse overnight—because of fear.

I watched a thriving business collapse overnight—because of fear.

A colleague of mine recently expanded into the food truck business. They’re growing fast. Investing in their success. And winning.

It reminded me of an old story:

A food truck owner was crushing it—lines down the road, money rolling in.

His son, a Harvard grad, came home for the holidays and panicked.

"Dad! Didn’t you see the latest numbers from the department of labor, or the latest GDP numbers? We’re going into a recession! You can’t afford a new truck or new staff!”

The father became very worried. After all, his son was very smart Harvard graduate–top of his class!

He continued, “What you need to do, Dad, is to cut costs to get ready for this economic downturn!”

So the man listened to his brilliant son. He canceled the purchase of the new truck and let all the new staff go, and started buying cheaper ingredients.

And guess what? Business shrank. Customers stopped coming. Sales tanked.

“That damned recession!” the son said to his Harvard friends.

“That damned son,” the father muttered while applying for a job at a restaurant.

So… some food for thought.

Can you identify any areas of your business where you’re making decisions from a place of fear or worry, instead of carefully looking at what your business needs to grow and thrive?