How to Embrace Adaptability and Thrive in the Face of Uncertainty

In the ever-changing world of entrepreneurship, adaptability and resilience are key. We’ve gathered insights from eighteen industry leaders, including founders and CEOs, to provide you with a comprehensive guide to navigating uncertainty. From avoiding clinging to “the way things have been done” to embracing change with a growth mindset, discover the strategies that have helped these professionals succeed in their entrepreneurial journey.

• Avoid Clinging to “The Way Things Have Been Done”
• Adopt the “Fail Fast” Philosophy
• Separate Personal Feelings from Business Outcomes
• Prepare Well
• Stay Positive and Adaptable in Communication
• See Opportunities for Growth and Learning
• Expand Your Mind with New Ideas
• Take Consistent Action
• Manage the Paradoxes in Entrepreneurship
• Rely on a Support System
• Prioritize Your Mental Health 
• Stay Cool-Headed and Innovative
• Identify Business Opportunities in Change
• Experiment with New Technology
• Cultivate Flexibility in Your Process
• Bulletproof from Worst-Case Scenarios
• Hire a Business Coach
• Embrace Change with a Growth Mindset

Avoid Clinging to “The Way Things Have Been Done”

Adaptability has been an absolute must as I’ve grown my review website. When I started out testing email marketing tools years ago, I had no idea the landscape would change so radically.

For example, when AI content creation exploded, my team and I completely revamped our testing methodology to provide unique human insights no algorithm could match. While other sites churned out rote comparisons, we doubled down on in-depth, personal testing focused on user experience.

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Limitations drive innovation, and having to work around constraints will actually force you to get a bit scrappy, thereby unearthing really original solutions. It’s how that saying goes, that every roadblock presents new possibilities if you give yourself the mental breath to frame it in this regard.

My advice is, don’t cling rigidly to “the way things have always been done.”

Robert Brandl, Founder and CEO, Email Tool Tester

Adopt the “Fail Fast” Philosophy

There is no guarantee that we will succeed as entrepreneurs, but the closest we can get to it is by continuing to adapt, leverage our data, and be fierce with our decisions to support the ever-changing technology industry.

If we are unwavering in our dedication to a customer-centric company and build with a growth mindset, we will be further ahead than we were the day before. As entrepreneurs, we have to be willing to change, accept failures, and pivot quickly. 

One of the core values at my company is “Fail Fast,” and I believe that one value has helped me more than any other as an entrepreneur. We are going to fail every single day, but it’s really about how we handle failure internally and then how we act afterward, which will affect our outcomes in both the short and long game as entrepreneurs.

Nomiki Petrolla, Founder, PDS Lab

Separate Personal Feelings from Business Outcomes

The best advice I can give is from when I was starting my first business, and the importance of learning that you are not your business. It’s incredibly important to remind yourself that a bad week or a bad month in business is not a reflection on you as a person or an entrepreneur. 

It’s crucial that you learn to separate the two and, as difficult as it can be, try to remove that emotional “link” to the business that thrives when you’re doing well, but often takes it personally when you’re not.

Tom Yates, Founder, Asbestos Sampling

Prepare Well

Initially, it was challenging to navigate uncertainties in business, and lamenting about it didn’t help. I decided I had to use an assertive approach to deal with them. Whenever uncertainty strikes, I start making strategies for it. I try to understand it first by gathering all the data. 

After getting all the facts, I discovered the best approaches to tackle the situation. I also take help from my colleagues, friends, and mentors. The combination of their advice and my ideas guides me toward adapting to the uncertainty. As I get well-prepared, I don’t get overwhelmed while dealing with it. The uncertainty can’t have a negative impact on me because of it.

Marcus Phillips, Founder Managing Director, Mortgages

Stay Positive and Adaptable in Communication

I’ve learned to embrace adaptability and negative uncertainty by improving on letting things go quickly to stay invigorated with positive energy and reflecting with gratitude. By doing so, I’m able to recognize how far I’ve come and move forward with the best plan and intentions possible. 

Recently, a client company expressed that a candidate we offered didn’t have the right experience and was no longer under consideration for their job opening. A few weeks later, they asked if he was still interested in pursuing the position and ended up getting hired. This had me thinking quickly on my feet to make sure communication wasn’t delayed and that I was able to consider the candidate’s feelings when the client changed their mind.

Benjamin Farber, President, Bristol Associates, Inc.

See Opportunities for Growth and Learning 

The key to embracing adaptability and navigating uncertainty as an entrepreneur is to see it as an opportunity for growth and learning. Adopting this perspective allows me to stay grounded and focused, even when the entrepreneurial journey gets unpredictable and difficult. 

I personally view challenges as chances to find new, creative solutions, and uncertainty as a catalyst for personal and professional development. Over time, this approach has helped me build resilience, confidence, and a deeper understanding of my own strengths and limitations.

Bayu Prihandito, Certified Psychology Expert, Life Coach, Founder, Life Architekture

Expand Your Mind with New Ideas

A key approach is experimenting at the edges of your knowledge. When starting my first company, I sought out experienced mentors to expose myself to new ideas and ways of thinking. I also tested minor changes to product features and marketing messages, evaluating what resonated best with customers. 

Early on, we noticed customers responding well to a particular feature. However, implementing it fully required altering our roadmap and technology stack. Pivoting in this way meant uncertainty and risks, but we saw the potential reward.

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So, we made the changes, which paid off through increased engagement, retention, and word-of-mouth. Embracing adaptability starts with the right mindset, and then you can develop the habits, skills, and team needed to transform uncertainty into opportunity.

Alex Jasin, CMO, Refine Packaging

Take Consistent Action

The unpredictable and uncertain nature of generating high-ticket sales can deeply affect your confidence as a business owner. Something that has always positively impacted my business is a quote from one of my favorite podcasters, Sean Croxton: “Little by little, little becomes a lot.” 

Remember that Rome was not built overnight. Instead, try paying attention to implementing small, strategic, and consistent actions daily. They are seemingly insignificant because their impact is not felt or seen right away; however, when you execute the right actions consistently, the positive effects compound over time.

This concept isn’t taught in business schools, but it’s what has helped me achieve some incredible results over the years. “Little by little, little becomes a lot” is now a permanent sticky note on my desk and reminds me of the importance of adaptability and perseverance in business. And it’s a lesson I strive to share with every entrepreneur and business owner I work with.

Ioni Papadakis, Business Coach, 9 ELEPHANTS CONSULTING INC.

Manage the Paradoxes in Entrepreneurship

Embracing paradox is the key to successfully navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

Most challenges we face as entrepreneurs are seemingly irreconcilable—for example, balancing the need to create future-proof, scalable systems with knowing when to just get things done. As neither are necessarily the ideal approach at any given time, we can get pulled in different directions trying to resolve them.

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The key to navigating this is to understand that these challenges are not problems to be solved, but rather paradoxes to be managed. In other words, taking a “both/and” versus “either/or” approach helps to mentally reconcile this ebb and flow, and adapt to it.

Recognizing the signs of when you have shifted too much towards one polarity of the paradox versus the other gives you the signal to course-correct without ripping up your business plan, or causing unnecessary stress trying to fix something that is ultimately unfixable.

Tom Lloyd, Founder and Managing Partner, tllo

Rely on a Support System

A strong support system helps big time when navigating uncertainty as an entrepreneur. People often neglect the mental toll entrepreneurship takes. I know I did. 

When times get tough, you have two options: give up or move forward. When you have a loving family that supports you, it’s easier to keep pressing on despite the mental anguish you’re going through. I’ve had moments in my career when I’ve had to dig deep and put every bit of energy I had into my venture, at times to the detriment of the rest of my life. 

My wife, Yanling, was there for me through those times, understood what needed to be done, and helped push me forward. It’s not ideal to sacrifice your personal life to start your business, but for us, it was a necessary price we paid. Understand what you’re getting yourself into as an entrepreneur, and make sure you’re fully prepared to face it head-on and see your idea through.

Scott Sidders, Co-Founder, Scott & Yanling Media Inc.

Prioritize Your Mental Health

Something I’ve learned as a travel blogger is that you never know what life is going to throw your way. You always have to prepare for the unexpected, which can obviously be difficult when you don’t know what you need to prepare for and how.

For me, a mindset I’ve adopted for this is to go with the flow. It’s great if you always make sure you have something to fall back on, and if you know of any way in which something might go wrong, have a safety net prepared. Other than this, though, the best thing to do is to just sit back and try your best. It’s easy to let anxiety rule us in this way, so dwelling on every potential issue will only cause your anxiety to get worse.

You need to get to a point where you can feel like you have done all that you can. Once you have prepared for the major potential outcomes, you have to truly believe that you have done everything. By putting your mental health first, you can adapt better if something unforeseen arises.

Aiden Higgins, Senior Editor and Writer, The Broke Backpacker

Stay Cool-Headed and Innovative

It’s important to stay cool-headed during moments of uncertainty as an entrepreneur. Having a startup is chaotic as hell, and you never know what will happen tomorrow. 

One example I can provide is when one of our primary revenue sources got cut off with no explanation and no way to get it back. But I didn’t panic and came up with an entirely new business plan in the booking market for my startup, Ratepunk. And we’ve been successfully pushing that business model since. Great ideas can be born from this desperation, and as a startup founder, I am extremely grateful to have a team that is used to pivoting every strategy quickly and effectively.

I welcome challenges, as they give you something to think about and invent new ways that could change the market you’re in as a whole. Being challenged makes it easier to move forward and grow as an entrepreneur. Embracing adaptability, staying cool when everyone else would panic, and constantly innovating is part of the job.

Justin Albertynas, CEO, Ratepunk

Identify Business Opportunities in Change

A smart entrepreneur will keep an eye out for upcoming business opportunities. Where there is change and uncertainty, there will also be new opportunities to come with it. Entrepreneurs must have keen observation and know how to identify problems that lack solutions, because that’s where business can be born.

Case in point, the COVID pandemic was a drastic, unforeseen change that caused a lot of uncertainty in most, if not all, industries. Our company definitely felt the impact too, but we learned to adapt to the situation. 

As an e-commerce appliance store that specializes in high-quality indoor air-quality products, we saw it as an opportunity for our products to solve a market need. Instead of pulling the reins in our operations at the time, we doubled down on our efforts because we saw a huge gap to fill in indoor air-quality products, particularly air purifiers and HVAC filters.

Meg Hellerstedt, President, Sylvane

Experiment with New Technology

In the creative industry, there is a constant friction between the advancement of technology and basic human skill and creativity. We’re seeing it right now with the rise of AI, and the fears for the future of the sector. 

Ultimately, the first step to navigating this uncertainty is to adopt a resilient mindset and recognize that change is a constant, and yet, your industry still exists. Recognize that it does so through embracing fresh developments, and taking advantage of the opportunities that it offers. With that understanding, the next step is to experiment and learn for yourself. 

Dip your toe in the water of uncertainty and get familiar with the new opportunities; see how they can be turned to benefit your business either through enabling efficiencies, new product or service lines, or up-skilling your team.

Ryan Stone, Founder and Creative Director, Lambda Films

Cultivate Flexibility in Your Process

Plans are great, but things rarely go according to plan. So, I suggest planning for things to change. Baking in a flexible, adaptable approach right into the planning process is the best way to avoid hitting up against that frustrating feeling of falling behind or having to move goalposts at every stage. 

When sitting down to plan out a project, I suggest starting with the ultimate “why” for this work. Why are you creating this thing? Why now? Why with this level of urgency? Why this way? Having those guideposts clear right from the beginning gives you a far better scope for your work than a detailed, itemized action plan because they will likely remain unmoving throughout the project. 

Then, as you work through assigning tasks and deadlines, as things come up, you can always check back in with those “why’s” to make sure those adjustments are still in alignment with the overall purpose of the project and not just a shiny distraction.

Michelle Pontvert, Online Business Strategist and Educator, Michelle Pontvert

Bulletproof from Worst-Case Scenarios

My advice for navigating uncertainty as an entrepreneur is to bulletproof yourself from worst-case scenarios.

At the beginning of my career, my business income was unpredictable, which caused sleepless nights. So, the first thing I did when my business started growing was to save up for a house.

This gave me peace of mind, knowing that if things went south, at least I’d have a place to sleep. I could then take bigger risks and adapt more aggressively to market changes.

Even if you can’t afford a house yet, put some money toward low-risk investments, so you know that if your income dries up, you’ll have something to fall back on.

Scott Lieberman, Owner, Touchdown Money

Hire a Business Coach

Having a business coach as an entrepreneur is not just beneficial; it’s essential. In a world where change is constant and uncertainty is the new norm, adaptability is crucial for survival and growth. 

A business coach serves as a beacon, guiding you through the fog of uncertainty, helping you adapt and evolve. They don’t just provide solutions but help you see possibilities through challenges. They instill a mindset that views obstacles not as roadblocks but as opportunities for innovation and improvement. 

With their vast experience and objective perspective, they can identify patterns and provide insights you may overlook. They challenge your assumptions, push your boundaries, and encourage you to step outside your comfort zone. 

Thus, having a business coach is like having a secret weapon that prepares you for the unpredictable, making your entrepreneurial journey less daunting and more rewarding.

Vivian Acquah CDE®, Certified Diversity Executive, Amplify DEI

Embrace Change with a Growth Mindset

For myself, I find that developing a mindset which sees challenges as opportunities for growth makes it easier to embrace change as a chance to learn and improve. Staying open to new ideas and approaches allows you to be more open-minded, which makes it easier to gain new knowledge. 

If you’re too close-minded, you don’t want to learn, which can make it tough to navigate uncertainty. A growth mindset puts you in a healthy position to accept change instead of fearing it.

Renan Ferreira, Head of Communications and Director of Sales, RealCraft