Insecurity

I see there are a lot of folks searching the word "recession". I know I haven't focused much on that, and I know why. To me, it's business in any climate in still business. In as much as I prefer not to focus directly on the recession, I will focus this post on the "feeling" of insecurity. Whether there is eminent danger or not, the sense of insecurity is pretty much the same from a strategic standpoint.

Making any decision in a moment of fear is a bad idea.

On this, I know of what I speak, people. I struggle with this one daily, myself. The thing is, chances are, we have more time than we think to make a decision about something. I'm not telling you to procrastinate, as that has it's own set of issues. I'm telling you to step back, analyze the situation when you can actually breathe.

In this breathing, weighing, analyzing moment, write down exactly what you think your choices are in a given situation. Let's use the example of marketing when you're in the red:

You can...

• Spend more than you have now if you think you have money coming in the near future.
• Spend nothing and put marketing on hold until you're doing better.
• Spend all the money you can on one big print ad.

All of the above are based on "spend or not spend" because your core issue is about money. Generally speaking, the one thing you probably have more of when things are lean is time. So, take the money out of the equation and ask yourself how can I spend my time to keep up my marketing efforts?

If you stop marketing when things are good, you won't have business when times are less good. If you stop marketing for lack of money, you've just bought yourself a self-fulfilling prophesy.

So, let's put in a couple of more options for the marketing effort, sans cash, or very little cash:

• FOCUSED online networking.
• If you have a retail environment, consider hosting events there for free to groups as a way to expose your biz to more new eyes
• Offer free seminars on what you do for your service-based biz.
• Host your own events and bring in like-minded folks. It's not competition, it's cooperative marketing.
• Reach out to existing clients/customers and offer them an incentive for sending you sales or leads.
• Offer to write articles on blogs in your area of expertise.
  

If you are committed to your business, to your dream, just don't stop. Everyday your business NEEDS you to show up. Recession or no, all of the points above apply to the long run of this business of yours. Stop waiting for things to "free up" and make things happen!

Adventure or Crisis?

I was just saying the other day that I have a hard time deciding which posts belong in what blogs I write these days.
This one is clearly economy related.
You also may not want to hear it.

Oh good, you're reading!
If you think that you can "console" yourself with: But the economy sucks and everyone is having a hard time.
Think again. Literally:
THINK AGAIN

How is it that "even in this economy" you're most likely still going to stores and buying stuff and paying for services? Because you believe they have value to you. We live in a capitalist society that, for better or worse, attaches monetary value to almost everything. You know, the commercial that goes something like, "box seats at Yankee Stadium, $500, four hot dogs, $20, the look on your kids face, priceless."

The last part is what people seem to be more interested in today. The experience. The look on your kid's face, the feeling that you get, the "experiential" part of what you're purchasing. So why do folks buy a lot of stuff online still? Two reasons I believe:

The kind of store that they would buy this in doesn't exist where they live.
The kind of store that they would buy this in doesn't have an experience that excites them.

Back to the value thing.

If you think that everyone is doing really badly then why is the latest technology still selling? How is it that we even KNOW what's popular? People are talking about it. Why? It's cool, it's new, it's really really good or it keeps getting better.

These are all keys to long term success for your business:
Quality of product AND experience.

I know that what I've said here is a gross generalization in many ways, but I'm here to kick your butt about accepting "the ways things are" as a way to operate in your head or in your company. Work harder! Throw more passion at what you're doing.

I knew a fella who wrote for an Outdoors magazine. He said: When you're going through it, it's a crisis. When you tell the story of it, that's when it becomes your adventure.

Why don't you begin your adventure now?

The Security of a Paycheck...

image by Tyson Crosbie

...NOT!
Is that what we're learning in this recession? It's been at least 20 years since I read about the nature of the "Modern" business world. Our country is still suffering from the non-education of our workers. A person learns a job and the incentive to pick up new skills can be nil. It's been said that the responsibility of the Employer in today's business world is to give their employee the opportunity to have a job for "some period" of time. The responsibility of the individual is to learn as many new skills as possible to jettison them into the next job.

Even though this was stated as the new world of business some decades ago, it clearly has not been adopted in many failing industries. So, when I ask people what they have to lose by striking out on their own, they talk about that paycheck security, or that Health Insurance security.

At this time when we have been debating the heck out of the current state of healthcare, I was recently interviewed by BusinessWeek about just this topic. If you're not starting your dream business because of needing health insurance, we really do have a crisis. This is something that I've heard very little debate about. Considering the fact that our government touts our ability to innovate and the power of the Entrepreneur, this surprises me.

Inasmuch as I don't really like posting rants, this one is a long time coming, people! To say that you see the future is all about the Entrepreneur is just great, if you give us the incentives to do our thing. The New York Times sees yet another trend, the Accidental Entrepreneur. Given the right support from mentors like myself and our society, there may still be an upside to the downturn in our economy.

Here's hoping!

What Should You be Asking?

Sometimes my personal experiences of doing business fall right into my lap as blog posts. As I have said many times, we all need a mentor. This one is as much about me as it is you.

The question I would like to hear more of my clients asking is: What do I need to do to make my business more successful?

Often my initial sessions with folks focus on things that they feel have gone wrong in the past months or the past years. What I hear a lot of is:

• I guess people don't really want the good stuff any more because they're rather shop in a big store.
• Everyone wants something for nothing!
• All I do is work and I feel like no one gets how much work goes into what I do!
• Things just aren't the way they used to be...

What pattern do you see here? I see blaming outside sources.

Another way of looking at all of their situations is:

• How can I find the people who want the good stuff I make?
• People value what they pay for. How can I rise to the level of getting those folks to pay me?
• How can I tell the amazing story of what I do that will build my brand and what I do?
• Things change all the time. How can I be light on my feet to RESPOND to the constant change?

See the difference? One is taking responsibility and one is blaming. I know this isn't a couple's therapy session here, but finding a solution is what I'm all about. I can hear your pain about what's not working and how that's hard for you. I am about making the changes to get you where you want to go.

Change takes work. Having your own business takes an enormous amount of work. The upside is that when everything is going well, you made it happen. It cannot be a one way street: When things go poorly it's everyone else failing you and when things go right, you're a star. Nope. You get both sides, that's the deal.

Tides

Is it just a tidal change that will reverse itself naturally or a drought on the way?

Yeah, I get that we're in a recession. But your business will have it's own tides in addition to the tides of the greater marketplace. How do you tell your own from the ocean's tides? To some extent you can't. That is, if you haven't been keeping really clear records of your sales income from previous periods.

Most likely you may know exactly what you're sold in the past, but to whom and why are two more questions you may be less clear on. When you wrote your business plan you were asked to project income in different market sectors and income in different price points. Then you projected that further down the line for 3 or more years. Have you gone back and looks at those budget vs actual numbers?

When there's a crisis afoot in business, folks can be very quick to make changes. After all, agility and flexibility is what it's all about. But, if you don't go back and take a really close look at what's going on, putting your assumptions aside, you may be moving in the wrong direction.

Moving your whole fleet of products to take advantage of a little change in wind direction is a very expensive ordeal. It maybe a passing trend and perhaps holding right and developing the good thing you have to make it better might make more sense. Just like the captain of a ship, one needs to keep on eye on the horizon and the icebergs to your side. It's not an either/or proposition. Both must be done, simultaneously.

How well do Captains sleep? Maybe not so well, but such is the life of someone navigating the ever changing tides of business

Why Isn't it Working Anymore?

Erica Marshall www.muddyboots.org

You've been going with the flow but pretty much working off of your original business plan. It's been working for you! Then something, or a series of somethings have happened. What's going on? You lay awake wondering if it's you or the economy or both. Does it matter? I mean, it's not working now.

One option is to do nothing and hope it passes, kind of like a bad cold. But maybe things are not working as well because something big has changed, like you've moved or you lost your business partner or perhaps your office manager. You feel adrift and the money is just not coming in.

If you were to take stock of exactly where you are, that would be a good place to start. Then:

• Look at how things were when they were last "working"
• What has changed within your business?
• What has changed in your particular industry?
• What has happened to your physical location is that's something that has been a benefit in the past.

Sometimes we, as business people will look at something and say, "It's a phase!" What if everything were a phase? Serial success? It's a half empty, half full kinda of thing. Every business will at some point (if it's around long enough) will be in a recession.

Planning for the best case scenario is what we tend to do. It's hard enough to write a business plan that succeeds, writing one that assumes some failure is a pretty tough order. At least think about it now. Think about how to identify the signs of faltering that could make or break you:

• Having most of your income coming from one customer/client
• Being spread across too many markets and not one of them is stable
• Having no alternative sources for your raw goods

Watch for some of these warning signs and in another series I'll go through some things that can make your business more "recession proof."