Another recession – been there, done that; couldn’t afford the T Shirt. If you can think of surviving a recession as a skill it may help to lower the small panic you feel after each frightening newscast. If this one comes to pass it will be my third. I am not happy about it but I think I am better at it.
I would like to offer this blog series as a how to for new business owners about to survive their first recession and as a refresher course for those with recession experience.
As an entrepreneurial speaker I have had a front row seat to watch how people react, who survives, who does well in a recession and what the major mistakes are.
In the early nineties the recession began just like this time. The economy had been very good giving people the idea that this was normal. People were affluent and used money instead of effort for everything. Houses were selling for sums way beyond their value following bidding wars. Forty-five per cent of all meals were eaten in restaurants.
Stories of layoffs in the news did not alarm middle class people as they thought of themselves as career people. Job instability was a traditional blue collar problem. The short amount of time it took for the recession to move from the front page to your front door was startling.
Many told me that business did not slow down; it just stopped. Store doors did not open; phones did not ring.
2008 has more potential for a rapid recession. The middle class has been under attack for a decade. The fallout from the mortgage horror has only just begun to bring a nuclear winter to the economy. Plus we appear to have a generation that does not know how to grocery shop or cook. The cashier in my food store often asks me to identify vegetables for her so she can look up its code.
Many do not prepare by changing their thinking to suit a leaner time.
The $600.00 handout in the US intended to save the floundering economy brought this reaction from one woman-
I will buy new summer clothes.
It reminded me of an interview from the last time with a young professional couple. They outlined their suffering this way-
“we have been forced to waste our time on comparison shopping and we have to re heel shoes rather than just getting new ones”.
I hope this series will make you solidly and comfortably prepared.
Here are the titles for the blogs for the next few weeks.
Have a staff planning meeting with yourself
The Two Biggest Mistakes
Tighten Your Belt -It Will Look Good
Looking Okay
How People React
Taking Care of the Company Asset -You!
The Bank
What Will Sell? Never Mind the Logic!
Handling Long Term Stress
Who Will Not Make It?
Your Image Make Cutting Back Cool
Dress for Success on no Budget
Sidewalk Advice
A Few Surprises