Lisa Kipps-Brown: “Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel; 5 Reasons To Be Hopeful During this Corona Crisis”

It’s helping restore faith in each other as human beings. Unfortunately, media typically focuses on bad news. Combined with that, we all get so busy we don’t have time to be neighborly any more. We don’t hear about the good things happening, but we definitely hear about the bad, making many of us cynical about the state of humanity. Any crisis has a way of bringing people together and making them want to help others, though. In the case of COVID-19, it’s also given us lots of extra time while being distanced from most other people. That’s resulted in more people actively seeking out ways to be kind and helpful to others.

As a part of my series about the things we can do to remain hopeful and support each other during anxious times, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lisa Kipps-Brown.

Lisa Kipps-Brown is a Business Reimagineer and Opportunity Miner with 25 years of internet business experience and 30 years of entrepreneurial experience. She helps entrepreneurs identify and develop marketing opportunities and long-term strategic partnerships that increase business value and marketability. Lisa is the President of Glerin Business Resources, a web and marketing strategy firm that she founded in 1996.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I majored in accounting and was good at it but it didn’t fit my personality. In 1995 I realized that web development was the perfect way for me to combine my business and entrepreneurial experience in a creative, transformative way. In 1996 I started my business, Glerin Business Resources, and have focused ever since on working with clients who want to use the internet to reinvent their businesses.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen by Steve Sims. I’m a voracious reader, but Bluefishing is my favorite of all the business books I’ve read. I give it to all of my new retainer clients because it helps them dare to dream. Like many, I started my business so I could work with who I want and do work I like. Over the years there’s been a lot of pressure to make the business be just like others, though. Bluefishing helped me shore up my resolve to continue to do it my way. I could relate to Steve’s blue collar background, his determination to not roll over and take what comes, and his philosophy of only working with clients who could pass his “chug test.” Someone he would want to have a drink with. My equivalent of the chug test is his book: if someone doesn’t like Bluefishing, I know they’re not a good match to work with me. Steve is actually my business coach now — that’s how much I liked the book!

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Many people have become anxious from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. The fears related to the coronavirus pandemic have heightened a sense of uncertainty, fear, and loneliness. From your perspective can you help our readers to see the “Light at the End of the Tunnel”? Can you share your “5 Reasons To Be Hopeful During this Corona Crisis”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.

1. The response to the crisis has revealed the resiliency and determination of people and businesses, and has spurred them to work together in new ways. For example, NASCAR driver Colin Garrett races to combat veteran suicide pro bono. He can’t race now, but the crisis makes it even more important that people know about the free suicide prevention services offered by the nonprofit he promotes. At the same time, area distilleries are producing hand sanitizer to donate but don’t have the resources to deliver it. Colin volunteered to personally deliver the hand sanitizer to first responders and essential businesses throughout Virginia who desperately need it, raising awareness of the free suicide prevention services at the same time. Businesses partnered with a professional athlete to provide hand sanitizer to communities in need — a great testament to people working together to get something done.
2. It’s helping restore faith in each other as human beings. Unfortunately, media typically focuses on bad news. Combined with that, we all get so busy we don’t have time to be neighborly any more. We don’t hear about the good things happening, but we definitely hear about the bad, making many of us cynical about the state of humanity. Any crisis has a way of bringing people together and making them want to help others, though. In the case of COVID-19, it’s also given us lots of extra time while being distanced from most other people. That’s resulted in more people actively seeking out ways to be kind and helpful to others.
3. It gives you time to work on your business, or on yourself if you’re an employee. We all get busy and it’s easy to put off doing things we know we should do. Right now many people have extra time that they can be using to improve. Entrepreneurs can integrate more fully into the web to work more efficiently, catch up on business books you’ve been wanting to read, and expand your online presence. Employees can take online courses to help make you more employable, figure out a way to help your company adapt (and make yourself be seen as more valuable!), and build your online network to possibly open up new career options.
4. It will result in new products and services. We’ve all heard the saying “necessity is the mother of all invention.” You may roll your eyes, but it’s true. This crisis could be the catalyst for life-saving inventions, products that make life more enjoyable, or discoveries that change the future. It could result in entire new industries being born, or help existing businesses create new revenue streams by adapting to survive. All of this will create new jobs after the crisis.
5. We’ll be stronger after this. The pandemic has forced us to understand that we can’t be complacent, which is a good thing. Like weightlifting builds muscles by first tearing them down, the crisis has awakened the realization that there are things in our personal lives, businesses, and society that need to change. It’s revealed weaknesses in businesses that are forcing them to adapt, and holes in our nation’s preparedness that can be addressed to avoid a worse outcome in the future. We will overcome this challenge and learn valuable lessons from it that make us stronger and even more resilient.

From your experience or research what are five steps that each of us can take to effectively offer support to those around us who are feeling anxious? Can you explain?

1. Do something for someone without them asking: drop home-cooked food off on the porch, offer to pick up supplies if you have to go to the store, or offer to do laundry for your neighbor who has a house full of kids. Anything that helps take a little bit of a load off of someone is a great thing. But don’t ask what you can do because most people will never ask for help. Just do it.
2. Pick up the phone and call a friend or family member you haven’t spoken with in a while. We need to stay connected and there’s nothing better than hearing someone’s voice. It’s a great time to catch up!
3. Teach an older person how to use Facetime or Skype to visit with their loved ones. If they’re not in the house with you, get them to put their phone or laptop outside so you can pick it up and set up everything for them. Print off easy instructions on how to make or answer a call and include them when you return the device. Then be the first to use it with them, to make sure they understand
4. Share happy things on social media and don’t participate in arguing or sharing negative news. There’s plenty of time to dissect everyone’s response to the virus later, but right now we need to put our energy into the positive. Don’t waste mental and physical energy on the negative.
5. Patronize local business who may be open, or prepay for services or gift cards to help them make it through the cash crunch. It could help make the difference in a business folding or not, and can help save jobs.

What are the best resources you would suggest to a person who is feeling anxious?

• Most importantly, your friends, family, and faith because those provide your life’s foundation. Staying connected to the people and things you’re used to is a reminder that you have people who care about you. That will help you feel safer and more reassured that life is going on, and that you’re still part of something that’s bigger than yourself. We may not be able to be together physically, but we can still stay connected through the phone, email, social media, and video chats.
• The CDC and your state health department’s websites provide information about mitigating your risk and updates on the situation. Try to get your updates from objective, reliable sources like them. It’s important to know what’s happening, but also important to get that knowledge in a way that isn’t sensational and misleading. If someone tells you something or you see it on social media, take it with a grain of salt. Check for yourself to see if it’s true and stop listening to the Chicken Littles of the world. Most of the advice and “facts” that are passed along are probably untrue so there’s no sense it letting it control you.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

“Don’t let yourself be defined by a label.” Too often people think they could never do something because they’re [you can fill in the blank with countless words]. My father was totally blind but didn’t let it hold him back. He cooked, mowed grass, rode horses, ran a business, played “Around the World” basketball with us, shot guns, played poker, had his own band, gave meticulous driving directions, and was even known to drive cars and a boat. My best friend in high school had been coming to my house for about a month when someone mentioned that Daddy was blind. She said “no, he isn’t!” like they were crazy. You would never have been able to tell he was blind by the way he acted around the house, and I had never even thought to tell her because it was irrelevant to us. Just as you wouldn’t tell someone the color of your father’s eyes. We just knew not to leave things in his way, and that we would be called on to look up phone numbers, find something in the dictionary, or read the dates on coins he collected. His resilience and determination to be independent and live a full life is one of the greatest influences on my own life.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would figure out a way to help more older business owners sell to younger people when they’re ready to retire. Their business is most business owners’ retirement plan, but the fact is that most will never sell. They’ll just be closed down, which is a loss to the entire community, or the owner will work until they die. Jobs are gone, the owner’s expertise is gone, valuable services may no longer be available, and the contribution the business made to the social structure is gone. By helping more older people successfully sell their business to someone younger, we would strengthen the economy and have less people who rely on the government for subsistence when they retire. Everyone would be better off.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

On LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter @lisakippsbrown or my website lisakippsbrown.com.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!