5 Tips to Survive Today’s Economy

By Joel Blakley, Business Credit Services

Everywhere you turn, you hear more doom and gloom. Believe it or not, I’m confident and upbeat. I am a firm believer that in every situation, regardless of what the news sources say, there is opportunity. I put together some tips for you to consider. Perhaps one or more of them will help you. Take a look:

1) Get up and fight!

Over the last year, many small businesses have failed. Consumer confidence is very low, and people are less willing to spend on items that aren’t a necessity. We all know this. We hear it every day. In my position at Business Credit Services, I speak to small business owners constantly. I can tell morale is low. I tell these clients that now is the time to seize the day. Your business might be down, but you have to get up and fight for it! Examine everything you do in your business and think of ways to make it more efficient and more effective and make the absolute most out of every single customer contact.

2) What differentiates you from your competition?

Now more than ever, you need a compelling reason for people to use your business. What does your business do to stand out? What single thing do you do better than everyone else? Why would it be a huge mistake for a customer to use your competitor instead of you? Those are all questions for which you need to have very compelling answers. Everything your company does, from advertising and marketing, to the quality of the services you perform, to the way you interact with your customers, needs to embody these things. Your clients need to constantly be left with the feeling they made a great decision to do business with you. If you succeed, you will have lifelong customers. Lifelong customers translate into having a business that is more resilient to economic downturns.

3) Where’s your passion level?

When you get up in the morning, do you still feel passionate about your business? If you do, what makes you love it? If you don’t, why don’t you? It is vital to clearly understand what makes you love working in your business. When you are facing difficult times, it’s easy to feel like you lost that “spark” that drove you to open your business. If it’s gone, you need to recover it. Without it, you won’t be as inspired to make the changes and be as agile with your decisions as you need to be. What changes can you make to your business, and to your personal life, to reignite that spark?

4) Think out of the box? Throw away the box!

I’m not a fan of always doing things the same way. I spent a significant length of time at a very large software company. Many times, I’d suggest ways to improve our services and increase efficiencies. The most common response I’d get was: “We’re not sure we should do that because we’ve always done it another way.” This is possibly the most toxic way for a business to think. For crying out loud, what makes entrepreneurs successful is thinking of different ways to get things done! If Apple Computers thought this way, the IPod would never have taken off. If Boeing thought this way, we’d still be flying propeller planes. If Henry Ford thought this way, we’d be riding horses to work! Worry less about changing the way you do things and concentrate on doing them well.

5) TURN OFF THE NEWS

Can it be any surprise that consumer confidence is lower than anybody can remember? Every time I read the paper or watch the news, I hear about how bad things are. Even our elected officials are telling us the economy could move into a full-blown depression. I’m a pretty calm guy by nature, but when I hear this, it REALLY TICKS ME OFF! What happens to consumer confidence when the very people we elect tell us that the sky is falling? The answer, of course, is that consumers worry more about the economy and spend less. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy! Imagine what would happen if our leaders came out and said, “Things are going to get better.” What if the major news services published stories telling us it’s not 1929 all over again? Guess what would happen? THEY’D SELL FEWER NEWSPAPERS! The fact is, reporting good news doesn’t sell as well as reporting the bad. Remember this fact: Fear sells newspapers!

Here are a few facts to make you feel better. According to a Small Business Administration (SBA) fact sheet:

• Half of all private sector jobs are with small businesses.
• 45% of all payroll is paid by small businesses.
• Between 60-80% of net new jobs in the last decade were created by small businesses.
• Half of our Gross Domestic Product (Less Farming) is created by small businesses.
• 52% of small businesses are home based!

Small businesses like yours are what make this economy work!