The Extreme Makeover: Reinvention

Do you remember the show Extreme Makeover? I used to watch it every Sunday. It had such a great message of hope for these families who had very little and the whole community came out to support and love on the folks. They combined the love for design and function and decided to help people have a better life.

The show was emotional but what reinvention isn’t? The house was torn down completely. It wasn’t let’s just move a few walls. No, it was let’s bulldoze, blowup or sledgehammer this baby until there is nothing left. I am always amazed at this part. How many times do you wish you could use a sledgehammer and start over?

The foundations are redone. The cement is poured and the house starts going up. You can learn a lot from this reinvention/makeover.

I recently read a person on Facebook basically say that because of Obamacare this person would no longer be able to stay in business. I guess he sold insurance and would usually use healthcare as another selling point. It was such a large part of their business that they decided to no longer do insurance. It wasn’t profitable.

The next sentence he explained that he was going to do something else. The Extreme Makeover.

It sucks when you find yourself in a situation where you have to tear down the walls, reevaluate what you have and start over. I am sure there is some mourning involved in that process. I can’t imagine what would happen if the IRS said no more tax returns needed to be filed and flat tax was the new norm. Millions of people would be happy, right? When the flat tax rate is mentioned people usually get worried for me but the bottom line is the IRS or the government isn’t going to stop me from being in business. I will always reinvent myself.

If you are a true entrepreneur then you will have good times and bad but you will always know how to reinvent yourself and your business. It doesn’t mean you aren’t stunned. I am sure this is why they move the families to remote locations when they smash their home. It’s a shocking place to be and if you are right there in the middle of it there is no telling what you would see on TV. Unfortunately, no one can move you to a remote location. You have to stick it out, be creative and rebuild from the bottom.

Reinvention is the beginning of all small business in my opinion. Your deciding who you are, you’re strengths and how to be marketable in the grand world we all live in. It takes some time to put together your WHY but with some introspection you can really see a whole different side of yourself. You may even decide to do the thing you always wanted to do.

My favorite Hallmark movie lately is a girl that was working for someone and was fired. She decided she wanted to be a shoe designer. She made beautiful shoes, art really and she showed up later with a whole showroom later on. They missed a lot of hard steps but you get the idea. Sometimes a drastic change forces us to reinvent into a better fit altogether.

Lorena, our Admin Assistant, always reminds us that things happen for a reason. It’s truly that hope that helps us get through hard situations. Indeed, all things happen for a reason and sometimes it takes time to see why it happened.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have to stop and reinvent for any reason know that you have a CPA firm that you can go to. I strategize with people all the time helping them really look at what is financially a good idea. You never know what will take root but you have to try and keep trying. Don’t be at the whim ever at someone else’s stroke of a pen.

You can reinvent and become an extreme makeover success!