One of the questions I have asked guests recently on my radio show, The Entrepreneur’s Journey, is “How are you responding to the current economy situation?” The answers I have received for this question have given me insight into how successful entrepreneurs who have been in business for a while think.
One common thread in their answers is they have chosen to see the current situation as an opportunity to do things differently and show their willingness to embrace the challenge.
This has inspired me to share 5 things business owners should do in dealing with today’s economic situation.
Keep a positive attitude. I always hear keep a positive attitude from various motivational speakers, but the geek in me was not satisfied with just hearing a statement like that without finding out if there was any scientific backing to it. I decided to do some research and actually found a study done by psychology today that shows how the brain responded to a positive and negative attitude.
The study shows that when a person is positive, the positive thoughts fuel the brain’s creative juices and allows it to come up with more creative ideas. However, when a person is negative, the brain goes into a sort of slump and the creative juices are slowed down. This simply means that when you are positive, you see possibilities despite the challenges and when you are negative, you see doom.
Choose to be positive so you can use your creative juices to come up with solutions to help your business grow.
Make up your mind to win. Winning in this situation is deciding that you will come out stronger after the recession is over. It might mean you adjusting how you do things, changing your product offering, cutting down cost or generally adjusting your financial projections.
You need to decide that your business will survive and that stance will make you more resilient and help you keep going. Remember the saying; it’s not over until you win? That has to be your attitude.
Make the best of what you have. I get emails regularly from people saying they don’t have enough money to start a business or grow or even promote their business. My response is usually; make the best of what you have. I saw a quote by Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop; it says, “We were most creative when our backs were against the wall.” If you feel like this, it is time to look critically at what you have and see how you can make the best of it.
If you don’t have money to promote your business, why don’t you utilize word of mouth or referral marketing? If you can’t afford something, can you barter in exchange for what you want? Will you consider partnering with someone else? My point is; stop looking at the things you don’t have and focus on what you have and make the best of it.
Build momentum. This is the time to get up and take action. Repetitive action will build momentum. Instead of folding your arms and doing nothing, it is time to tighten your ‘business belt’ and take action in the direction that will sustain your business. Even if you try something and fail, make sure you fail fast and move forward quickly. If it is not working stop doing it or adjust it. If it is working, do more of it.
You need to be flexible and responsive in these times and that is one of the advantages of being a small business because you can adjust faster than your bigger counterparts.
Get knowledge and expertise. It is very critical in these time to have a strategic plan for your business. This is not the time to gamble with what you do and how you grow your business. If there is an area where you lack the requisite skill, seek the help of an expert and get the knowledge required.
These days, it is easy to get access to business experts like myself than it used to be in the past, so find an expert in an area where you need help and get the knowledge you require so you can increase your chances of not only surviving but coming out stronger.
I created a free guide on how to recession-proof your business, you can download it here. I also have an upcoming master class that will equip you with the strategic knowledge to grow your business in these times, you can see details here.
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