(The Thinker, Auguste Rodin cast 1901, National Gallery of Art)
Call me a delusional optimist, but despite all the negative news coming from the media, I believe we have the fortitude, creativity and flexibility to see our way through any challenge that comes our way.
We’ve done it before and we can do it again! But in case you doubt me, let’s look back into our recent past.
2008 Was a Hard Time for Many
The Great Recession, which started in late 2007 kicked off years of economic struggle. According to the Federal Reserve History website, “U.S. gross domestic product fell by 4.3 percent, making this the deepest recession since World War II. It was also the longest, lasting eighteen months. The unemployment rate more than doubled, from less than 5 percent to 10 percent.”
(By comparison, the unemployment rate in the U.S. as of July 2026 is 4.1%.)
The Great Recession ended in June 2009, but growth averaged only about 2 percent in the first four years of the “recovery” and the unemployment rate stayed at historically high levels.
The number of home foreclosures listed in the newspapers was gut-wrenching. Businesses closed. People who lost their jobs struggled through on family loans, credit cards and unemployment, if they had that. It was a time where you would either sink or swim.
People Got Creative, Adapted and Pursued Alternatives
But many learned how to swim. They started new businesses, changed careers or moved to where the jobs were. I too adapted.
My business had been focused on training and speaking for organizations and corporations. However, during that time, many events and engagements were cancelled or just weren’t funded in the first place. The work I had counted on seemed to dry up overnight.
So, I shifted gears. I started teaching and delivering support for things I had learned to do for myself, like building blogs, websites, search engine optimization and social media, which was a fairly recent marketing tool at the time.
That experience helped me land a job working in the Communications Department for the City of Colorado Springs doing social media and managing a blog for the Mayor. Some time later, I started my business back up again, leveraging skills I had learned during the recession and working for the City.
As the economy recovered, I then included coaching, consulting, video interviews and writing into the services my business offered, providing more resilience in the event of another market “shift”.
Then Covid Triggered More “Life Changing Events”
I’m betting most of us never expected to face a pandemic. Again we struggled through traumatic times. Companies closed, people lost their jobs, mental health collapsed for some and yes, many people died.
But some got creative. They adapted and pursued alternatives. Restaurants relied on drive-through and take-out to stay afloat. People worked from home. Parents realized what was being taught to their children (for better or worse). Solopreneurs launched online businesses focused on education, health, investing, fitness, etc.
Now AI is Changing the World Again
I don’t need to quote you the statistics. You’ve read all about how AI and automation are changing whole industries, job descriptions, careers, team composition, customer relationships and business structures.
College graduates are finding fewer entry level jobs, so they’re starting small businesses. Women (and men) are reconsidering the value of staying home to raise and/or homeschool the children. Trade schools and apprenticeships are seeing an increase in candidate numbers. People are learning how to leverage AI, resulting in a new way of managing workflow, time and resources.
A Framework for Income Control
More entrepreneurs are now offering tools and strategies to cope with this new world in the age of AI. One great example is from a fellow Substack writer, Anthony at Future Proof Me.
This author promotes a future proof framework applying “Hands, Brand, Land and AI Command — four practical forms of income control.” Here’s what he means:
- “Hands gives you the ability to create immediate value through a physical skill or a service business built around qualified people.
- Brand gives you trust at scale, so demand begins arriving through your name rather than through someone else’s logo.
- Land converts active income into an asset that can produce value when you are not working, including property, productive acreage, storage, domains, websites or other owned infrastructure.
- AI Command multiplies the entire structure by handling scheduling, estimates, follow up research, analysis, content production, customer communication, documentation, and routine administration.”
To delve deeper into his approach, I recommend you (or your favorite young adult) read his recent article entitled, Your Parents Prepared You for a World That Just Ended
Also, check out the “Run My AI Risk Check” tab on his website at https://www.futureproofme.ai/ and access the plethora of published resources he has available.
Shameless You-Know-What
Personality Styles & Team Roles: I’m facilitating a session during an Eye Clinic retreat in Colorado Springs later this month. We’ll explore the roles people naturally gravitate to when they’re part of any team, whether it’s a project team or planning your annual family reunion! Participants will discover their own personal styles and engage in fun, interactive exercises that reinforce the lessons learned.
A Blueprint for Solopreneurs and Small Business Owners: Tested tips to help you take your website to the top of the search OR be named as a trusted resource when people type a query into an AI agent. Scale the learning curve faster with less frustration and confusion. And it includes my personal guarantee that you’ll get at least two or more tips to make it well worth your investment! (If not, let me know and I’ll make it right.)