Everyday brings more news of problems in the economy, and we’ve all been touched by this in someway. In the Winter issue of The Professional Quilter, financial writer David Nagle, wrote an article about surviving, and even thriving, in a down economy. Here’s an excerpt from his article.

Late last year our government officials and most economists concluded something we have known for some while – that our economy is in recession, and it appears to be headed for a prolonged period of contraction. Some of your businesses may be challenged in some way by the economic downturn. It’s important to maintain your composure, stay positive and focus on what is important to your business. While it is important for you to stay realistic about the state of the economy as it may affect you, I suggest you try to tune out the doom, gloom and naysaying that pervades our TV, Internet and newspaper medias.

First, assess how you react when the economy negatively affects your business? Do you:

• Remain optimistic, disregard the impact, assume it will improve, stay the course?
• Heed the bad news, assume the worst, panic, shut down (jump out windows)?
• Try anything, aimlessly run in circles, not knowing what to do?
• Procrastinate, hide from the issues, hope they go away?
• Find a shrink or visit yours more frequently, read self-improvement books?
• Meditate, do yoga, chant, pray more, become more spiritual?
• Increase consumption of your favorite substances (alcohol, nicotine, pain killers)?
• Combinations of the above?

Just to let you know, the list comes directly from my own personal experiences in past economic recessions (1973, 1980, 1990 and 2001). Each option has its pros and cons. If we reflect on our experiences from past recessions, hopefully we can put together a lessons-learned guide for handling the current economic situation. Each of our perspectives on handling an economic downturn will be different depending on our personalities, the unique characteristics of our businesses and our niche in the market. Since the success of our businesses is dependent on our customers, staying closely tuned to their needs will enhance our chance of survival.

My suggestions for weathering the current economic storm include the following:

• Determine and pursue your unique market niche, products and services,
• Assess customers’ needs,
• Develop a business plan,
• Plan your business finances,
• Streamline processes/cut costs/improve products and services,
• Improve skill sets and capabilities,
• Take care of ourselves (our most precious resources).

You can read more of the specifics of David’s suggestions in his article in Issue 106 of The Professional Quilter. If your subscription is not current and you need to renew, or you want to start a new subscription, here’s a link to our order page.

Tags: Business planning, David Nagle

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Business, Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.