Shifting Emotions From High to Low

I don’t seem to be able to check my emotions in high-pressure business situations. Any suggestions?

Instead of telling yourself to calm down, turn the dial in the other direction and reframe nervousness as excitement, says Harvard Business School’s Alison Wood Brooks. So, instead of saying “I am nervous about making this pitch,” say “I’m excited about making this pitch.” Writing in Harvard Magazine, Brooke says it works because nervousness and excitement are similar. They’re both high-arousal emotions; it’s just that one is negative and the other is positive. Calmness, meanwhile, is a low-arousal emotion, and it’s tough to shift from high to low.

I feel like we’re losing out to online giants with lower prices. What can I do about it?

“My suggestion is to become more than a printer and compete where the ecommerce companies cannot,” says Gary Schellerer of ER2 Image Group. “It is a losing battle for most companies to gauge their pricing on the cheapest online company they can find. The reality is, to compete with these companies you typically must be very large with super aggressive equipment and find efficiencies that are very difficult for brick-and-mortar companies to implement. Plus, who wants to be a “sweatshop?” Instead, find some products and services you’re good at and become an industry expert. Be the go-to person for your client and offer service that an online company cannot. We offer robust graphic design, 3D design, CAD design, and even have an engineer on staff to create complex environments that our customers will never be able to achieve with online companies.”

What sort of limits can I set on my employees’ side hustles?

Generally, the law looks dimly on efforts to restrict a person’s right to earn an income. Some states are particularly protective of employee rights, including the right to “moonlight,” or work for other employers outside of regular work hours. That said, showing conflict of interest – say, an employee is working for a competitor, or too exhausted from freelancing to do quality work for you – can put you on stronger ground. Talk to your lawyer about drafting an effective non-compete.