Business by Janice

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