Richard owned a successful chain of high-end electronic stores when a sudden change nearly destroyed everything he had worked a lifetime to build. A savage tornado tore through his town and severely damaged his largest and most profitable store, which became uninhabitable. May what Richard and his team did next inspire you whenever an unexpected and unwanted change turns your life upside down, too.

Within hours of the storm, Richard and nearly every employee were at the site cleaning up and salvaging whatever they could. They sent damaged inventory back to the warehouse and then plotted their next move.

They quickly recognized an opportunity the storm had produced: They would have a tornado sale. They would discount their products — after all, they had been through a tornado — and would set up shop in the parking lot, since the store was unsafe to enter. They would display their inventory in truck trailers and on pallets. They would let customers walk up and down the aisles and pick items off the shelves.

They decided to have some fun, too. They printed up t-shirts with a slogan on the back, literally turning their backs on the rather way formal way electronics were sold at the time. Finally, they took a chance. They poured their advertising budget into the sale. They plastered the town with billboards and posters: Tornado Sale! High-End Electronics At A Discount!

Just six days after the tornado, the sale took place. It was so successful they extended the sale to the next day. They set sales records for the weekend. It was so successful, they decided to have a tornado sale every year, discounting their inventory and letting people pick it right off the shelves.

Eventually, Richard realized that even though he was successful before the tornado, his response to the unwanted change created an opportunity to invent an even better business model: a permanent discount warehouse model. At the time of the tornado, Richard had a small chain of stores. The chain survives today, but it now has over 1,500 stores.

Richard changed the name of the chain back then, too. He used the promotional phrase from the original sale: Come on in and get your Best Buy! The large electronics retailer Best Buy got its start when its founder, Richard Schultz, was nearly wiped out by a tornado. By following fundamental principles for successfully adapting to change, he and his team were able to turn potentially tragic change into tremendous opportunity.