I was four years into my role as CEO of an events business that generated 90% of its revenue during one major in-person gathering a year.
When COVID-19 hit our world and made our business model unlawful for over 18 months, we had to tear our company down to the studs… and then we had to start rebuilding the business.
By December of 2020, nine months into the pandemic, we had only eight people working for half wages. We had $10,000 in the bank and millions in accounts payable and debt.
Millions.
Two years later, we had forty people working for full wages and millions in the bank. Now we still had our debt, but that was now a medium term problem, not an existential crisis.
I had twenty five years of experience when the pandemic struck, but it still kicked my butt.
I didn’t sleep well for two years straight, and I lost two teeth from grinding them to smithereens.
But I think it was the biggest professional gift I’ve ever received. It gave our company, Fintech Nexus, a bigger chance.
I believe if you’re lucky enough to have a second chance, you have to take it. Because the second chance is the bigger opportunity. While rebuilding, we got to reinvent ourselves along the way. The pandemic was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, but it spurred the development of a bigger, better Fintech Nexus, where we didn’t gather community once a year, but we had a year long commitment to digital media. And we built community through scores of engagements, large and small.
And I wouldn’t trade that.
Though I’d love to have my two teeth back.
