190. Why Playing It Safe Might Be the Riskiest Move You Can Make

When the economy gets shaky, most business owners go into hiding — cutting back, pulling in, and hoping to ride it out.

But here's the thing about holding back:
 👉 Shrinking is a choice. And right now, it’s the riskiest one you can make.

Instead of retreating, this is your moment to stand out — to get visible, build trust, and become the expert your audience turns to.

In this episode you’ll learn:

✅ Why downturns are actually prime time for bold positioning
✅ The 3 visibility pillars that will future-proof your business
✅ A real-world story of a client who grew during a crisis by showing up differently
✅ How to “draft” off trusted leaders in your space (and borrow their authority)
✅ Why now is the best time to say what others won’t and show what others don’t

If you’ve been feeling uncertain about how to market your expertise in a noisy, nervous world — this episode is your wake-up call.

🎧 Hit play and take the first step toward standing out, even in a downturn.

If you're the best-kept secret in your industry, it's time to change that.

Because when you start showing up with clarity, confidence, and the right content—your ideal clients won't just notice you. They'll choose you.

Don’t miss your chance to get a free video brand assessment to start creating videos that actually work for your business.

Schedule your video brand assessment here >

Thanks for tuning in. If you found this episode helpful, share it with another expert entrepreneur who’s ready to stop blending in.

And I’ll see you next time—on The Standout Business Show.

Episode Transcript

Brad Powell (00:06):
Welcome to the Standout Business Show.
I'm Brad Powell, and today Iwant to talk about why this is
the moment when playing it safeactually becomes the riskiest
move for your business.
Okay, so, unless you've beenhanging out on some tropical
island somewhere, then youprobably know that things

(00:27):
haven't been looking so hot forthe economy lately.
And I want to talk about thisbecause, when the economy starts
to tank, a lot of businessowners get really scared, which
is understandable, and theystart believing that their
clients are going to disappearand their business will shrink
and maybe they'll end uphomeless.

(00:48):
So today I want to talk aboutall of this and what you can do
to shield yourself from whateverfallout might come from a more
depressed economy.
In fact, I want to talk aboutthe things you can do that will
provide resilience for yourbusiness, no matter what the
economy is doing.

(01:09):
And if that sounds good, staytuned and let's start the show.
Ok, so for everyone alive,today we're being fed a constant
diet via social media andlately it's been an absolute
firehose of chaotic and scarynews about the economy.

(01:30):
And with all this scary newsand information, fear is a
normal response.
But shrinking shrinking is achoice Most business owners are
going to react by shrinking.
When people get scared, theytend to shrink.
Shrinking when people getscared, they tend to shrink,
they make themselves smaller andthey pull back on their efforts
and they cut back on theirmarketing, and they do this as a

(01:53):
way to protect themselves.
But the reality is, this isprobably the least safe way to
behave and, because this iswhere most people are going, it
is a great time for you to standout.
I'm going to say that again.
This is a great time for you tostand out and look, we've been

(02:16):
here before.
Just five years ago, we had thestart of the pandemic and so,
like what happened during thepandemic?
Well, everybody was freakingout.
Everybody thought theirbusinesses were going to dry up
or disappear or, in some cases,your businesses were
disappearing.
I mean, in my case, before thepandemic, I was live streaming,

(02:37):
live in-person, big giantconference events and all of
that business just stoppedovernight.
Events, and all of thatbusiness just stopped overnight.
No more live streamingin-person events, no more.
Following a conference fromcity to city, that work for me
completely ended.
This happened to lots and lotsof people, and yet there was

(02:58):
lots of things to do, lots ofthings that I did during that
time that pivoted and found aresilience for my business and
actually moved it into a placethat is far better off than it
ever was before the pandemic.
And so I want to give you anexample of one of my clients.
Her name is Peta Blakely, andshe actually started working

(03:21):
with me right at the start ofthe pandemic.
She actually started workingwith me right at the start of
the pandemic and she was inexactly the same frame of mind
of oh my gosh, what's going tohappen to my business?
I mean her work.
She's a nonprofit consultant,and all the nonprofits that she
worked for were absolutely in apanic mode because their main
event, the big fundraiser thatthey do every year, the annual

(03:43):
big in-person event all of thoseevents were being canceled and
so this thing that they've beenused to doing, which was one of
their biggest fundraisers of theyear, just disappeared.
So they were very, veryconcerned about where was their
funding going to come from?

(04:04):
Would they have to lay a bunchof people off?
Would they cease to exist?
And, of course, peta, being aconsultant for these clients,
was very concerned about her ownwork.
How would they be able to hireher to continue to do her work.
We got together and we talkedabout this.
To continue to do her work.
We got together and we talkedabout this, and what she did,

(04:30):
with my help, was that shestarted reaching out to
interview a series of nonprofitleaders people who she not only
worked with, but people whoshe'd never met, who were the
leaders of nonprofitorganizations that she would
love to work for, and shebrought them on.
They actually did a live streamtogether.
They did it on LinkedIn.
So every Friday morning shewould get on with one of these

(04:50):
nonprofit leaders and they wouldhave a conversation, and the
conversation was always aboutwhat are nonprofits doing in
this time of crisis.
And they were greatconversations and, in fact, this
was a conversation that wantedto happen in this time of crisis
.
And they were greatconversations and, in fact, this
was a conversation that wantedto happen in that time.
And a couple of really goodthings happened.
For PETA Number one, she becameknown by most of the nonprofit

(05:11):
leaders in North America who shewould like to serve.
They got to know her.
They got to know how shethought she got to carry the
torch from one person to thenext to carry on this
conversation.
She became the center of thisconversation that all these
people were wanting to talkabout and, as a result, many of

(05:32):
those people turned around andhired her for her consultancy,
and her business grew Instead ofshrinking during the first
years of the pandemic.
It actually grew, and now she'sbecome a leading authority on
what nonprofits can do in timesof crisis.
So this was something totallyunexpected, but instead of

(05:54):
shrinking, instead of panicking,instead of running away, peta
chose to take action and tostand out.
So, from this example, whatcould you be doing and what
could you be thinking about tostand out in this moment, in
this unique time?

(06:14):
Well, I'm going to suggest thatthere are basically three
pillars for standing out thatyou can consider.
The first one is the one thatwe're all familiar with and
you're probably already doing atleast some of it, which is
basic level of content marketing, and this is literally putting
your face out there and becomingthe face of your business and

(06:38):
the face of your brand, andbecoming the face of your
business and the face of yourbrand.
But as you do this, you want tosay things that other people
aren't willing to say, and youwant to show things that other
people aren't willing to showand, again, this moment in time
is a perfect time to do that,because there's lots of people
who are not going to be willingto show up because they're

(06:58):
scared, who are not going to bewilling to show up because
they're scared because they'rein shrinking mode.
And so when you take a standand you stand out in this way,
people will start seeing you andrecognizing you for what you do
and how you can serve them.

(07:18):
Pillar number two is acquiring alevel of social proof, and when
I'm talking about this, it'sthe same kind of social proof
that PETA was amassing when shewas reaching out to all the
other nonprofit leadershippeople in North America.
You want to connect with peoplewho already have built trust
and in their audience, in theirsphere of influence, and when

(07:39):
you do that, when you connectwith those people and you host
an event with them, you get themon a panel discussion that
you're hosting or you bring themon a podcast, like Peter was
doing.
Those kinds of things elevateyour own trust in the eyes of
the audience, of the person whoyou're talking with.
In this way, you are going tostand out to this whole new

(08:01):
group of people and the trustthat they have in their leader
is going to be transferred righton to you.
The idea here is that when youhave connected with people
who've already built trust,you're able to be like a racing
cyclist.
You know how they pedal inthese tight formations and they
draft off the velocity of theperson in the front.

(08:23):
Well, this is exactly what youcan do you can be drafting off
the velocity of other leadersand they will pull you right
along with them.
The last thing I'll mention,which is pillar number three, is
growing your network, and whatI'm talking about here is
focusing on becoming known bythe other thought leaders in

(08:43):
your space.
Because if you're in thesituation where you're trying to
do your thing and all thepeople who are in your field and
they are all the leaders andthe movers and shakers they've
never heard of you, when you goto speak at a conference, or
when you try and write a book,or whenever you do anything you
know kind of big scale to standout, they're going to wonder who

(09:07):
the heck is this person.
So it's really important tobuild your network with this
circle of people, because whenyou're all known by each other,
you can support and promote eachother.
It's the same thing, where therising tide floats all the boats
and even in a downturn, youstill want to have this

(09:28):
resilience of the supportnetwork of people in your field
who know you, who like you andwill be willing to do things for
you when times are bad.
None of us can actually surviveon that tropical island out of
the news, out of the mainstream,out of anything, and be fine.

(09:48):
We all need to be interacting inthe world.
So take this as your call toadventure.
Pick one of these three pillarsand start heading down that
lane.
What are you going to do thisweek?
To either say what other peoplearen't willing to say, or

(10:09):
connect with those who havealready built trust with their
audience, or to start buildingdeeper relationships with your
colleagues and the other thoughtleaders in your field.
I promise you, if you aretaking action and you are moving
in this direction, yourbusiness might even thrive, in
spite of what the economy isdoing.

(10:31):
And that's it for today'sepisode of the Standout Business
Show.
Thanks for listening.
If you found this episodehelpful, don't forget to
subscribe and share it with afriend, because the number one
way that people find out about apodcast like this one is

(10:53):
because they heard about it fromone of their friends.
Remember keep making a biggerdifference by doing business
differently.
And until next time, so long.