Nobody Really Knows. But Listening Still Works.

I've come to the uncomfortable realization that nobody—I mean nobody—really knows how to navigate the current economic craziness with any confidence.

You can feel it everywhere.

The markets are twitchy.

Forecasts get revised before the ink is dry.

Leadership teams are planning for three scenarios at once.

And just when a strategy feels like it’s settling in, something new throws it off balance.

So, let’s admit it:

There’s no master playbook right now.

No proven framework that tells you exactly what to do next.

(And, you should be deeply skeptical of anyone who claims to have the answer.)

At CoinJar, we spend our time immersed in customer behavior and market signals, and even we feel the fog. The ground is constantly shifting. What worked last quarter might not have any impact today.

That’s why we keep returning to the one practice that still holds up:

Stay close to your customers.

Not just through a single research project.

Not just by looking at retrospective data.

Rather, by keeping a finger on the pulse of how people are thinking (even when they’re confused), what they’re feeling (even when it changes frequently), and how they’re behaving (even if they’re not entirely sure why).

That’s not a passive process. It takes commitment. Curiosity. And an ability to listen even when the answers are fuzzy or inconvenient.

We’re not claiming it will give you certainty. But it will give you direction.

It’s not a blueprint. But it is a compass.

Sometimes, what you hear will be messy. Contradictory. Sometimes frustrating.

But if you keep asking, keep listening, you’ll begin to see patterns. Signals in the noise. Real needs, not just expressed ones.

And in that process, some customers will stand out. The ones who are a little more thoughtful. A little more forward-looking. The ones who push back not to complain, but to help shape something better.

We call them Catalytic Customers. Not because they have all the answers—but because they ask better questions.

And paying attention to them might just help you make sense of the rest.

Keep asking. Keep listening. It might not solve the chaos, but it’s still the smartest move on the board.