Business by Janice

Well, it’s been quite a while since I last wrote a post, I’ll use the exceptionally hot Madrid summer and traditional August “wind down” as an excuse!

For many, especially those in language training, September is the start of a new year and I think this September is going to reveal more than ever before - are we really seeing signs of economic recovery? And if we do see it this year, will it usher in more sincere ways of working and doing business? Thinking about what we’re going through econmically reminds me of a kid falling down incurring lots of cuts and bruises, he has to wait a while before he sees new, fresh skin form. We have to suffer pain before we can get better.

I’m rivetted by the book I’m currently reading, “The Tenth Insight, Holding the Vision - An Experiential Guide” by James Redfield and Carol Adrienne.  A chapter entitled “Transformation in Work and Business” struck a particular chord with me and examines how an individual’s attention to their own spirituality and life purpose, especially if they’re a business owner can really start to shift paradigms around business models.

In the States in particualar there is a definite trend toward spirit in business. One Californian entrepreneur is quoted in the book as saying, “I think metaphysical and spiritual ideas without doubt are changing the way we work and the way we think about our livelihood. But this is a new language for a lot of business people.” “When business is approached from a spiritual viewpoint, people begin to consider the long-range implications of their choices. They start with the commitment to do what matters to them, to stay in alignment with integrity and to try-as best as possible-to serve others as they would like to be served.”

This entrepreneur explains to us how he now operates in business, he says “When I check my inner alignment with my values, then I decide which client to work with, which product to develop, which course of action to take. That’s exactly opposite to the traditional business procedure of checking the market and the competition and trying to devise a strategy to find a weakness and exploit it”.

Interesting stuff. In these times of change I ask myself- how long can we go on as a cold, capitalistic society tolerating working situations and bosses that make us feel miserable, just to earn a living? The irony is that right now, for many people it DOESN’T allow them to earn a living because they’ve just been made redundan!

Now the time has arrived when people are starting to wake up and ask the questions that matter, like “Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? This is one of the reasons that people are now talking about coaching in the Western world. Coaching is set to explode as people become more aware because it is based around the fundmental question, “What do I really want in life that is aligned with my values?” and “What do I have to do to get what I want?” Coaching really is the layman’s spirituality and  will open the door to a new age in life and business.

When I think about it, although on the outside it appears that I’ve had a quiet summer, on the inside a lot has been happening. My thirst for spiritual knowlege and growth is becoming stronger by the day, yet I know that my feet are firmly on the ground when it comes to work, business and supporting my family as a single mother.

My regular readers will have seen my journey through this blog, as I’ve covered subjects of running a language school, personal development,  coaching, sharing my hopes and fears regarding a major career change and lately to spirituality. You know, I think I’ve discovered my vision and it feels wonderful - to combine business and spirituality.  It really is possible to be a modern, practical, ambitious  business woman who is at the same time spiritual and I hope that these blog posts inspire others on a similar journey to work “from the heart” and to influence the creation of more humanistic business models.

Last week I highlighted 5 common errors that many inexperienced entrepreneurs make when starting a business.  In this post I want to bring your attention to 5 more and finish with some personal observations from running my own business for 10 years.

Here are 5 more errors that new business owners often make:

• Rushing the process of setting up a business. Now, you may say that rushing the legal and administrative process here in Spain is impossible due to the  way our “functionarios” choose to work, and I totally agree! But that does give you time to consider carefully suc important factors such as your business partners,  your premises, your bank, your collaborators etc.  Take the time to  create and work on your business plan and ask yourself honestly, will I really be comfortable working with the people I have chosen?
• Selecting a business that is not aligned with your personality and values. Are you a person that despite having an entrepreneurial streak, actually seeks security? If this is the case, perhaps a franchised business might be a better option for you. Or are you a person who often experiences mood swings? In this case do you really want to open that restaurant where you’ll be dealing with the public for long hours? Besides considering the skills you have to bring to a business, make sure you consider what type of person you are and how this influences your decision on the type of business you might set up.
• Not knowing the exact costs of your business activity. The objective of a company is not simply to sell as much as possible. The overriding objective is to obtain profit - whether this is large or small is often the result of an overall specific strategy, but if we are not aware of how much it costs to produce our goods or services we can be heading for  financial problems further down the line.
• Neglecting to pay and neglecting to charge! An employee or supplier who is not paid properly and on time can cause a business a lot of bad publicity which over time can put the business in danger. On the other hand, if we don’t collect what’s owing to us, we are financing the operations of other companies and this can prove to be very expensive. Cash flow problems are the main reason why companies fail, not lack of profits. What good is having profit on paper if it is not in your bank account?
• Not looking after the details. Why is it that some shops selling the same products as others are full and others not? If your business deals directly with the public it’s extremely important to make sure that your premises are clean, furniture is not broken, the staff are well trained in customer service etc. The details DO matter. Customers see what we don’t often see, if they don’t like the atmosphere of a place they don’t come back but they don’t tell us why. Similarly, if your business doesn’t deal directly with the public, take a look at things like the quality of your stationnery, how you or your staff answer the telephone, even how quickly you respond to clients’ emails. Everything counts!

As your business grows it’s vital to keep coming back to your vision and values. Is the business evolving in the way you’r comfortable with? If not, analyse why not, if you don’t do this soon enough you’ll suddenly fing yourself highly stressed and unhappy.

It’s also necessary to be conscious of where the skills gaps are in your business. At the beginning we often have to do everything, and we can get away with doing those things that we don’t have previous experience of, in a rather of amateurish way. But as the business grows and you gain more prestigious clients, more professionalism is demanded in every area. For a long time in our business, we just let the sales grow by word of mouth as neither partner had specific commercial experience. I became aware of the immense danger of this after a business coaching weekend. If we hadn’t identified our skill gap and taken action to rectify it, we would have been in severe difficulites last year when the economic recession started to bite.

Once your business is set up, STAYING IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a business owner. You might not wish to grow, but it is essential for your business to do so.

If you are thinking of starting your own business or have just done so, I highly recommend the book “The E-myth revisited” by Micheal Gerber.

Many of us have often dreamed of starting a business. In a previous post I advocated “following your heart”. If we are passionate and persistent and we combine this with a good dollop of common and business sense, the chances are that we’ll succeed.

But what can go wrong? What are the main mistakes that inexperienced business owners make when embarking on their entrepreneurial dream?

A close friend of mine, consultant Roberto Menéndez, has kindly given me permission to use some of the material from an article he wrote on this topic. Below you will see details of 5 of the most common errors that are generally made:

1. Not having a business plan. A business plan is a fundamental tool to set you on your path. Financial and stategic objectives are set within a time frame to help you monitor your progess and to indicate when you are deviating from the plan in time to take corrective action.
2. Not  having enough money to survive the initial period. A very important question to ask yourself is “For how long can I cover my fixed costs with my current economic resources?” The initial period of a business before sales start to take off can be longer than expected. We need to be realistic about this and plan accordingly, being especially prudent with our day to day expenses.
3. Not wanting or knowing how to sell. Even though you have professional experience, it may not be in  a sales role. Sales are the life blood of a company. If you feel you don’t possess the skills to sell or are reticent about “doing sales”, get some training or coaching to overcome this obstacle, or employ someone to perform this task as soon as the budget permits.
4. Not consulting the professionals. You can’t know everything, especially when it comes to the norms and laws around taxes, employment, licenses and accountancy to name just a few of the areas where we have to be up to date as business owners. It’s fessential to contract the services of professionals in these areas, (unless that is your actual business). Stick to being the expert at what YOU know best, keep focused.
5. Confusing the till with your pocket. There is no doubt about it, the money in the till is exactly that, money in the till which belongs to the company and is there to meet its financial needs. Don’t ever be tempted into thinking it’s just money and as you are the sole owner, it is therefore your money. It isn’t. Make sure you account for every penny that comes in and goes out of the business via an accounting system however primitive in the first few months. This will avoid unpleasant surprises later.

Next week I’m going to write about 5 more common errors that many business owners make when starting out and share some personal experiences with you.  As I look back over the last 10 years of being with Windsor Idiomas, I can clearly identify where our weak areas were (and are), and where we made our mistakes.

As I’ve mentioned before on more than one occasion, running is a business is one of the greatest learning experiences you could ever have. We never stop growing and developing if we are to ensure the growth and develpopment of our baby, our business.

I came across an old note book the other day where I used to write all my ideas and inspirations. There was a quote in there, related to the topic of leadership:

“If other people can do the same thing as well as you do, let them do it.  If you do the same as them you add no value”.

Over the course of the last 10 years (the time I’ve spent with Windsor Idiomas), I’ve constantly come back to the subject of leadership as I really believe a company cannot be great without it. And the quotation above gives rise to a fundamental question about running a business; are you working ON the business or IN the business?

If an owner wants to grow a business that is ultimately saleable, they should be constantly seeking freedom from the day to day activities. They should then use that freedom to show how they can add value to the organisation. In essence, leaders should be working ON the business. They should be working to make themselves redundant. They should not be doing a job that someone else can easily do because that is a waste of the leader’s time and energy.

Now I know that in the beginning, this may be very hard.  But you CAN find the time and space to have vision, to decide strategy and to gradually move towards completion of that strategy, (to then design another one!)  OK, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and of ocourse small companies who are strapped for cash do take time to consolidate and grow.

But what contributes to that growth? What do employees truly value in a leader?

They want to see the following:

• the ability to motivate others
• vision
• honesty and integrity
• decisiveness
• the ability to handle crises.

If you are running your own business, how would you rate yourself in these areas? How would others rate you?  Why don’t you ask them?

There are hundreds of books written about leadership as it relates to running a company. Two or my favourites are listed below:

Leading at a Higher Level by Ken Blanchard. Prentice Hall

The Leadership Mystique by Manfres Dets De Vries. Prentice Hall

So what are the attitudes that guarantee you success with your business?

In my last post I made reference to the book “How to be an Entrepreneur” by Steve Parks and one of the secrets of success he outlines is that of attitude.

From a simplistic point of view (and I love simplicity), if you start off thinking, “I’m not talented enough” or “there’s so much competition out there”…  that’s an attitude that will lead directly to failure.  So yes, a POSITIVE attitude is a must to begin with.

However, Parks claims there are six main attitudes that successful entrepreneurs share. They are:

• being principled
• openess
• passion
• versatility
• resilience

I’m going to  talk about the characteristics which I believe to be particularly important.

A business owner is responsible for everything that happens in their company. Even if you are empowering your team by encouraging them to use their initiative and creativity, if something goes very wrong, you accept responsibility and immediately look for the action to take to solve the problem and move on from it. Time is not wasted apportioning blame.  Employees respect and feel secure with this attitude and it creates an atmosphere of trust and cooperation.

You need to be passionate about what you are doing. It might be passion for your product, it might be passion for growing your business, it might be passion for the learning experience that running a business gives you, but passion has got to be in there somewhere. Perhaps the area where passsion is essential and will really make a difference to the bottom line is in sales. If you can’t get passionate about what you’re selling how can you expect the client to?  I’ve often heard it said that selling is a transfer of enthusiasm, and that’s so right. Passion is what gets you up in the morning,  what makes you pull out all the stops when the company hits a crisis. By the way, a crisis is a great learning experience, I believe every business owner should have several along their journey.

Which brings me to the third characteristic which I feel is important in an entrepreneur - resilience. How a business owner deals with a crisis is very revealing. It’s natural to want to panic at first, that’s a natural human reaction when we feel out of control. Entrepreneurs may feel pressured to act quickly by their staff, but giving yourself space to think and reflect, and assess the situation is essential. You need this space to collect your energy and determination to then move forward.  If you have demonstrated the other characteristics of being principled, open and responsible and now demonstrate the resilience to pull through a crisis, your staff, clients and suppliers  will be with you all the way.

I remember when we opened the extra classrooms to our academy 6 years ago. We did it quickly so as not to miss out on the start of the new academic year never thinking that we wouldn’t get the support of our bank. Unfortunately this move coincided with the scandal of the “Opening” chain of schools and for that reason(!) our actual bank wouldn’t give us any money to finance the project. It was only by negotiating wih our suppliers and employees, borrowing from our families and going without a salary until we signed agreements with additional banks that we avoided the business from grinding to a halt. If you have been conducting your business up until then with integrity, any action you decide to take is easier as people are prepared to collaborate to help solve the problem.

Entrepreneurs come in  all shapes, sizes and profiles, but there is no doubt that when it comes to having the attitude that brings business success, the attitudes mentioned above have got to be in the mix somewhere.

http://www.steveparks.co.uk

There’s thousands of books been written about how to start your own business -  what sort of person you should be, the sort of plans you should make, how you should select your business partners, how you should finance it etc. etc.  And of course, most of these books talk about the risk factor.

If we are offered an opportunity to go into business, should we take it or not?  At the risk of being over simplistic (which I love to do),  I would say, if you have to think about it too much, no , if it gives you a  rush of positive feeling, go for it.  Nowadays, with all the information there is on the internet, all the people we can connect with who can help us, we can get all the information we need to launch our business. In my opinion, it’s all about mindset and passion.

Let’s take the case of an internet business, perhaps the least risky of all.

There’s never been a better time than now to start an internet business because people are hungry for information and as I mentioned above, all the info you need is at your fingertips. You can set up a simple web site on a subject that you’re passionate about, write lots of articles, give away free downloads, promote it using internet networking sites, start selling ebooks once you’ve established credibility and there you have your business. All it requires is to  write about what you’re passionate about, take the time to learn about internet marketing and a  smidgen of technology and there you have it.

Everything comes back to being aware of where circumstances, events and people are taking you, and if  a business propositon gives you the rush of feeling, that’s the push from the universe trying to bring you what you want (even though you may not be fully conscious of what you want yet).

For those of you who like to be more practical and are still reluctant to leave everything in the hands of our favourite universal law (the Law of Attraction in case you hadn’t already guessed), I would like to recommend an excellent book I’ve just read. It’s called “How to be an Entrepreneur” by Steve Parks.  The book suggests there are 6 factors which are necessary to become a successful entrepreneur.

• Attitude
• Opportunity
• Focus
• Talent
• Buliding
• Communication

Over the next couple of posts I’ll be spending some time outling the main points that Parks in each of these categories and adding my own insights from the experiences I’ve had running my own business.

If you’re the type of person who embraces change and growth, running your own business is an exciting ride. A successful business takes on its own personality and hungers for (personal) growth. Balancing your own growth with that of your business is the real challenge.

Those of us who focus on language training in companies have probably heard the words “sorry we have no budget for training this year” from HR departments many times now.

This happened to us last week on following up a company who had contacted us before Christmas for information.

It just so happens that in the office we have been renting in central Madrid since September, there was some additional space which has just been let to a Human Resources company , (a very appropriate “coincidence”) and who happen to be specialists in managing the training funds of companies. Many of you in Spain reading this will know that I’m talking about what used to be called FORCEM but is now the horribly unattractive sounding “Fundación Tripartita“. - we’ll use the term FORCEM here on in.

The thing is, all companies have access to money for training via the social security contributions they have made on behalf of their employees but many don’t take advantage of these funds for two reasons - either they’re not aware they exist or they believe that to get access and to use them is a bureaucratic nightmare (partly true, remember we are in Spain after all!).

I’m not an expert on this subject by any means and admin details bore me to death, but after a quick meeting with the HR company and their “FORCEM” specialist, I realised that there’s probably a lot of business out there that could be gained by promoting the use of FORCEM funds for language training if we were just to find  collaborative partners who could look after the offical administration.

The best companies to target would be the medium sized ones and upwards, those who have a minimum of 200+ employees. Companies smaller than this are not going to have accrued sufficient funds within a year that could be used effectively for an ongoing training programme. And the amount of subsidy allocated  to each employee for training purposes is only 9€ or 13€ in exceptional cases, so for the company to be able to cover the language school’s tariffs we would also be talking about training to groups.

Everyone these days is short of time and many companies are short of money in the sense that yes, a lot of budgets have been cut. Workers in many sectors have lost their jobs and those remaining are often having to take on the work of those made redundant. If companies haven’t already got people in admin to mangage the FORCEM paperwork or have found a gestoria to do this, they’re probably not going to have the resources right now to set it up themselves. By approaching these companies and providing this administrative service in addition to  the actual language training, you’rs saving them a lot of pain.

Of course, many very large companies, particularly the multi nationals have their own people to administer the paperwork and regularly use up all their funds as it saves them a huge amount of money each year.

In the case of the company who enquired about our services but then said they had no budget, (although I admit this may be a lie and perhaps they’ve actually selected another provider), it’s obvious they have a NEED for language training which is there to be satisfied.  Satisfying that need by promoting the use of the FORCEM subsidies may be an option.

There’s lots of gloom and doom talk around the recession but at the same time there’s lots of people who are focusing on how we can take advantage of the opportunities that recession provides. Looking for opportunities at the moment and following through on them will make us stronger, it will make us grow and it will mean that when the better times come, we will have acquired new creative ways of thinking and managing our businesses that will lead to even greater success.

I’d be very interested to receive more information on exactly how FORCEM is managed from anyone out there reading this - but just the important bits please, too much detail and jargon would make my eyes glaze over!

Try as I might I can’t get away from hearing  the word “crisis” at least 5 times a day, even though I deliberately DON’T watch any news. It’s getting to be a more common topic of conversation than the weather ever was!

I must say though, I’m thinking about the sales and budgets forecasts for the second term for company classes and attempting to balance my always overflowing positivity with the “reality” that’s out there.

Yes, it is proving hard to find and get new business (although there’s still lots to be had) so I got to thinking that it’s even more important to look after the clients we already have.  I read an interesting statistic on a marketing web page the other day - apprarently 68% of clients stop buying because businesses don’t communicate with them. This statistic is probably higher in a service industry such as ours.

So what can we do to make sure we retain our customers and even possibly get more business from them?

If you’re a business owner ( or a freelance teacher in fact), here are some ideas you may want to think about:

• Just phone. All of us are guilty of not speaking to our customers enough. Just pick up the phone to ask how everything’s going and thank them for their business, they’ll be very pleasantly surprised as very few people do this.

• Send a postcard. Send a postcard with a compelling offer that ADDS VALUE  to your current service. In times like these it’s VALUE that we have to be promoting, so that customers feel confident that their expenditure is an INVESTMENT.

• Reward referrals. In fact referrals is often something we don’t concentrate enough on. If your current cusotmers are really happy with you, encourage them to refer your name to others and offer clients an incentive to do this.  If you got two referrals from each of your current clients, just think what a difference this would make to your business.

• Send a gift to your best customers. How would you feel if you received an unexpected gift from a supplier? Would that increase your loyalty to them. Just the gesture of a small “detalle” as a thank you for their business goes a long way. (I reckon this is more effective outside of Chrismas time though).

• Offer your expertise. What one piece of information or knowledge about your business could help your customers save money, make their life easier etc?  Write a personal email and share it with them.

• Ask a great question. Phone your clients and ask this one simple but extremely effective question: “What are we currently not offering that you would like us to?” Quite often we concentrate on what we THINK clients want without ever asking them. This very powerful question could set you off in all sorts of interesting directions!

I know I seem to be concentrating on marketing quite a lot lately, I must say it’s a whole new area for me which I’m learning about and in fact is more than relevant in these times of (sorry, here it goes again…) crisis. For those companies who focus mostly on corporate clients, we ARE facing a challenge, but as I mentioned in my post “Let’s say NO to the Recession”,  we must maintain positive, imaginative and pro active to combat this situation.

Again I want to thank Chris Cardell for most of the marketing information contained in this post: http://www.cardellmedia.co.uk

In addition to the balls we have to juggle as small business owners, (see post “Do Academy owners ever get any sympathy from teachers?”) , we’ve got yet another one, and it’s a biggie - the negativity that surrounds us regarding this recession.

Yes, of course the economy is experiencing a downturn, that’s what the economy does, it goes up and down, in varying degrees. But perhaps the biggest danger is not the recession itself , but the FEAR that seems to creep up on people largely fuelled by the media who are having a field day with all the news of doom and gloom.

What is fear?  Basically it is a lack of faith about our ability to influence the future. And what does fear generally do? It paralyses us, it stops us from taking action. If we don’t take action of course we are not going to have faith in the future because we are putting our destiny in the hands of others, and we never know what others are going to do!

I think the first action one should take is to limit one’s consumption of the media. Surround yourself with positive messages from other sources  instead, don’t be sucked down into so much negativity. Yes, businesses are folding and people are losing their houses, that’s very sad, but at the same time other businesses are doing well and many  people haven’t reduced their spending.

Once you really get into the MINDSET that your business can indeed prosper despite the recession, you’ll be inspired to take action that will then enable it to do so.  Those of us who understand how the LAW OF ATTRACTION works know that EVERYTHING begins with a thought. If you think that it’s not worth doing any marketing because nobody’s buying, you’re not going to take any sort of marketing action  and hey presto, all of a sudden, your business is spriralling downwards. Who do you blame that on?  Yourself or the recession?

The most important thing to do in any recession is to increase your marketing, but make sure it’s marketing that WORKS. How do you know if the marketing is working? - You test it, you experiment with different types of marketing and you test. We used a telemarketer last year for the first time over a period of 3 months last spring/summer. With salary and commissions the guy cost us just over 2000€. He got us a contract worth 2000€/month whch runs for 9 months. He paid for himself. That’s simple testing.

And marketing doesn’t have to cost anything. Getting on the phone to clients or sending emails doesn’t cost anything (except your time) but it’s still marketing. However, the attitude with which you do this is paramount. If you’re making calls with the expectation that it’s a fruitless task because “we’re in a recession and nobody is buying”, your task will indeed bear little fruit. Just think, if most other business owners aren’t bothering to contact prospects because they think there’s no business to be had, then you have a higher probability of making contact with those who ARE still buying. No prospecting work is ever wasted, and if you are motivated to do it in the hard times and get some results, just think how easy it will be when the economy starts to move upwards.

To be very simplistic, things happen. That’s a fact. Whether they’re good or bad depends totally on how we view and judge them, so anything can be viewed as good if we choose to think that way.

For those business owners with the right mindset, an economic recession provides the challenge to:

• become more creative with their marketing which then pays off even more when the economy recovers
• analyse their current cost and revenue structure and thus develop in the area of financial budgeting
• learn and grow generally - there’s nothing like a problem to test and stretch you.  Often we don’t realise the resources we have inside us until we are put to the test
• think how we can utilise networking both inside and outside our sector to ceate synergies which may lead to increased business

By advocating saying NO to the recession I’m not denying that it exists, what I’m saying is let’s not succumb to negativity which creates fear and leads to inaction.  This FEELS so bad, and why would we choose to feel bad?  Isn’t it always better to feel good and positive? THAT is the feeling that will be responsible for getting you through this recession because it will inspire you to take the action needed.

Despite the generalisations of the press, there are lots of individuals and companies doing very well, (but of course positve news for the media is not what sells so it’s not of interest to them).  So let’s focus on these companies and individuals for our inspiration, focus on what action we ourselves need to take, and intelligently steer our way through these challenging times to come out the other end even stronger.

Note:  the material for this post was inspired by an amazing marketing and business development coach, Chris Cardell.  Check him out at: http.//www.cardellmedia.co.uk

Firstly, my apologies for leaving it so long between posts, I had a problem with accessing the page coupled with the usual hectic period of September/October setting up courses, recruiting etc.

It’s come to my attention that many prospective new clients are really putting pressure on getting price down which I suppose is quite understandable given the current economic conditions.

Will schools concede on this and will quality be affected?

Margins are really low in this industry to start with and if competition gets any fiercer, we may well see the standard of service decline in terms of communication with the client, mix ups with class organisation etc. It’s very unlikely (if other academy owners have any common sense) that teacher rates will be reduced to rebalance the margin on classes, as we’re still experiencing a shortage of teachers especially here in Madrid. Teachers can choose where to work and they’re certainly not going to, and shouldn’t, work for peanuts.

Time and time again we try to point out to clients that it’s not the PRICE that is important, it’s the COST of classes. A company can contract the cheapest language school in the city, but if that school is employing non qualiified and inexperienced teachers, the cost to that company is HUGE as the students won’t make the desired progress. The company might as well flush their money down the drain.  If budgets ARE tight, It’s a much more sensible to contract fewer classes with a school that guarantees quality, thereby ensuring  a return on investment on those students receiving quality teaching.

In any crisis it’s inevitable that there is some reshuffling of position in the market to maintain  a certain level of business.  Some  schools however, stressed out by fighting fires all day, may decide that it’s not worth it  any more. If you no longer enjoy your workas you have less and less resources with which to run your business and provide a decent service, what’s the point?

Quite frankly I refuse to be pulled into this doom and gloom. I’m not saying that these aren’t challenging times but if we fan the fire with pessimism we just get pulled futher down into “problems”.

I love the saying, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”. If an economic crisis means you have to be more creative in looking for clients (who’ll pay your rates), so be it - at least you hone your sales and marketing skills. If it means you have to monitor your budgets more carefully, fine, again this experience adds to your business skills.

There is always a positive side to every negative situation and those who ARE positive stand out, they attact good things to them. (For those of you who know anything about the Law of Attraction, you’ll know where I’m coming from, more about that in later posts).

So, will quality in our sector be sacrificed in the “Crisis”?  - Only if you want it to be.