Scarcity is an advantage: Lessons from my Italian recovery plan

We all go through it.
You lose a client.
A deal falls apart.
A job slips away.
A relationship ends.

It happened to me last week. A client I’d worked hard to secure suddenly pulled the plug. And for a moment, I did what anyone would do — I froze. But then something deeper took over — something I trace back to my Italian roots.

You see, in Italy, when life falls apart, we don’t pretend it’s fine. We talk. We don’t bottle it up. We don’t isolate. We don’t ghost our friends and wait until the storm passes. Instead, we share. We show vulnerability. We ask for support, not as a sign of weakness, but as a gesture of strength and leadership.

In a culture that thrives on human connection, conversation is how we heal.
It’s how we move forward.

So I took that approach.

First, I sat down and listed every lead, contact, and idea I had. Then I reached out. I called. I messaged. I reconnected. I didn't send desperate pitches, I started conversations. Some were about business, some weren’t. The point was motion. I refused to let silence set in.

Because here’s the truth no one tells you:

When you’re low, you have a strange kind of power. Your baseline is awful, but that gives you leverage. There’s less to lose. Less ego in the way. That pressure? That’s fuel. And when you have nothing to prove, you’re dangerous in the best possible way.

This is the Italian way:

We keep showing up, even when everything around us says don’t bother. We dress up. We hold our heads high. We fight with style and stubborn hope. Because we know that looking good and feeling good are connected, and both matter when you're trying to rebuild.

And we hustle not quietly, but proudly. We call in favors. We treat people to coffee. We invite people into our homes. (This week, I cooked for a global tech CEO at my place, not a formal pitch, just two humans connecting over a meal.) We also organize aperitivo (light and stylish drinks we host before dinner in bars).

I also met with a local family office to talk about a new Italian marketplace I’m building. Why? Because motion beats depression. Conversation beats silence. Scarcity can become an edge, if you learn how to use it.

You can’t wait to feel “ready.” You have to act before you’re back on your feet. You rebuild by doing not by hoping. Hoping is never a strategy.

And here’s what I’ve learned the hard way:
The battle isn’t against the market. It’s not even about competition. It’s against you. Your own doubt. Your ego. Your fear of rejection.

So stop overthinking. Start reaching out. You don’t need a ten-point plan, you need a single step. A 0.01% improvement today. That’s it. But if you do it daily, the compounding effect is unstoppable. Slowly, you rebuild. Quietly, you gain momentum. And eventually, you look back and realize you’re not just back, you’re ahead of where you were.

But only if you keep moving.

So if you’re in the middle of a loss, hear this:
Don’t go quiet. Don’t disappear. Don’t retreat into “figuring things out.”
Show up. Speak up. Use what you’ve got. Tap into your roots, cultural, personal, professional. Leverage who you really are.

Because average is over. And this is no place for the lukewarm.

Go all in.