Tag Archives: managing business

Now Is Not The Time To Wimp Out: 5 Ways To Thrive During Tough Times

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Book cover via Amazon

5 Ways To Thrive During Tough Times
Having been in business through many cycles and a number of recessions, I’ve learned several things. What springs to mind, in these tough times, is business is cyclical: just when you think that the good times will keep on rolling forever, the market starts a free fall and the economy heads over the cliff.  After you’ve tightened your belt, righted your ship, are managing to survive and think the storm clouds will never roll away, suddenly they do, and you’re in the money again.  The trick is to survive…. to persist and keep on doing whatever it is you do, as well as you can, good times and bad.

The other thing I’ve learned is that in every recession there is always an opportunity for someone, you just have to find it.  When companies don’t book five star hotels, budget hotels thrive.  When high end store sales wilt, thrift stores flourish.

So, you might ask, how do you stay positive and be proactive, seek out and take advantage of whatever opportunities emerge?  I was impressed with the advice offered by Jon Gordon’s Blog – 5 Ways To Thrive During Tough Times:

“Study history and you’ll find that a lot of people and organizations made a name for themselves and grew their businesses during recessions and downturns. These successful people and organizations all shared similar characteristics and took similar actions to thrive while others merely tried to survive. These success stories offer a blue print we can follow to thrive during tough times. They show us what is possible if we are willing to stay positive, repel fear, and take initiative.

In this spirit, here are five characteristics and actions you can take to thrive right now.

1. Refuse to Participate in the Recession – Businesses and people that thrived during past recessions continued to go about their business as usual regardless of the market conditions. They stayed positive, worked hard and focused on taking actions to grow their business. Focus on business as usual and while others allow fear to paralyze them you will charge forward and move ahead of your competition.

2. Increase Marketing and Advertising – It may seem counterintuitive to spend more money on advertising and marketing but with so many people and organizations cutting back on these expenses this is a great opportunity to build your brand, expand your presence and gain market share. People will still be buying goods and services and they will buy from those who they trust and see in the marketplace. This is a great time to win new customers and stand out.

3. Innovate – Just as the phoenix rises from the ashes, great ideas and new business ventures are born during economic hardships. GE, Disney, and Microsoft were all born during recessions. I believe when times are tough we are more open to new ideas, new products and new ways of doing things. For example, smart political and business leaders should be working on alternative energy and green technologies that would lead to great progress and profits.

4. Become a Talent Magnet – If you are a leader or manager there is no better time to find, attract and hire the best talent. Focus on strengthening your business now and you’ll be in a great position to capitalize when the market rebounds.

5. Think Big, Take Action – Consider that both the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge were built during the Great Depression. Now is a time to think big, create your vision and take action. With more people living in fear and fewer people taking initiative the rewards and recognition will be greater for those willing to work hard and dedicate themselves to building a great business, product, service, and vision. As we know, there is no substitute for hard work and now is a time where those with a positive attitude and great work ethic will shine.”

Download these “5 Ways to Thrive During Tough Times” as a poster that you can print, display and share. (PDF document)

Jon Gordon is a speaker, consultant and author of several books including the recently released The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to deal with Negativity at Work and best seller The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy

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The Unavoidable Challenge – Crisis Management

The Unavoidable Challenge – Crisis Management.

If you are in business long enough, one day you will have a real crisis or unforeseen disaster to manage. Remember “management must manage”. All crises are shocking and upsetting. Whatever caused the crisis, you will suddenly be facing monetary loss, a career in jeopardy, perhaps angry customers and employees, even reporters who are questioning your competence. It’s too late for an ounce of prevention and you’re not sure yet what the cure is. There is a lot of pressure on you , not only at work but in social situations because you “own ” the crisis.

Remember “managers must manage.” Don’t panic and don’t allow others to panic. Events may be unfolding rapidly and all your employees running for the life boats. What you have to do is take charge, no matter what the circumstances are, begin to manage your company’s reaction to the problem and redirect events in a more positive way.

Generally speaking, there’s only one way to do this. Huddle your top people together, take a team approach, because a genuine crisis usually outstrips one person’s ability to solve it. Gather all the information you need to analyze and solve the problem… there will probably be a period of ambiguity when you don’t know exactly what caused the problem or why, but if you an entrepreneur you’ve learned to accept ambiguity and control anxiety already.

You must immediately communicate with everyone involved– whether vendors, associates or the general public —and tell them exactly what is happening and , at the same time, tell them the concrete, positive steps you are taking to correct things and restore a smooth running operation. Put the most positive possible interpretation on events. After all, there is always more than one side to a story and many different interpretations, shades and nuances of any event– read the policital section of your newspaper if you want to see spin control and two starkly different accounts of the same set of facts. Above all, communicate and keep communicating. If you try to hide out, it will only make things worse and people will imagine an even worse scenario than whatever has happened.

Although it certainly will be a challenge to recognize it as the crisis is unfolding, some good may come of it. You will see who your strongest leaders are ( and we certainly hope and expect one of them will be you.) If someone had a big hand in the disaster, hopefully he will be shipped off to a small atoll near Greenland. Problems will be faced. New strategies and early warning systems will be developed. Not only will new and better systems be installed but new leaders will emerge from the smoke and din of crisis. And smart leaders don’t make the same mistake twice. So, if you’re prepared to learn, you will have been inoculated by that particular crisis and will learn not only how to avoid it in the future, but something useful about avoiding other potential crises. ( Management tip: Face problems while they’re still small and manageable. Don’t wait for them to grow up and blow fire in your face.)

Top 5 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Top 5 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know | Starting a Business and Growing your Company, Ladies Who Launch.

Top 5 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know

September 2nd, 2008 · 4 Comments

by Stacie Krajchir,
Ladies Who Launch member, Los Angeles

1. Familiarize yourself with the term “intern.”

If you haven’t heard, interns are the new black. If you don’t have one, find and hire one. Actually, get as many as you can.

Not only are interns smart, young, eager, willing, and able, they are in most cases free.

2. Nothing is guaranteed.

When you hire a new employee, isn’t the honeymoon period the absolute best? They rock, you rock, the company is thriving, clients are thrilled..Well, enjoy it while it lasts, because unfortunately the number one thorn in your business-owner side is called employee turnover, also known as “nothing is guaranteed” and further called “get on the back-up plan program pronto.”

There is no secret to knowing if an employee will be with you for four years or four minutes. It’s a risk and a gamble and simply an un-fun part of doing business.

The biggest takeaway here is this: Never give so much responsibility to one person that their departure will affect your business so much that you turn into a paralyzed ship on rough seas.

In a nutshell, if you are a small business, be sure that someone else on your staff can handle or is privy to 50 percent of what each employee knows, so in the event of an unexpected departure, you are facing a few whitecaps rather than a tidal wave.

3. Get yourself a bookkeeper.

This is not complicated, though I seemed to make it as convoluted as possible early on in my own business before finally “getting it”: Recognize your strengths and weaknesses.

My weakness is not organizing and keeping receipts and not entering all this into QuickBooks. ( Ed. note -  If you do all your banking online and pay everything w a debit or credit card, you are half way there in your bookkeeping.)

4. Reach out and touch someone.

Small business owner slash entrepreneur rule #345 is drop the ego at the door and reach out and ask for what you need.

However you do it, be it by phone, e-mail, or in person, reach out to women who actually get you. Unlike men, who have a tendency to want to conquer, kill, and overtake, we like to incubate, share, process, collaborate, and connect beyond deals and dollar signs. Don’t get me wrong, we like dollar signs a whole lot. But we demand more.

My chosen unexpected “partner in help” is Ladies Who Launch. I can’t even recall how I came upon the LWL crew, but my reaching out to and participating in this network of women has changed my business in more ways than you all want to hear. A handful of women guided and supported the launch of two new divisions of my company, injected warmth and humor during the breakup with the love of my life, lent me free fabulous legal advice, and acted as a fresh reminder that the art of barter is not dead and actually works magnificently.

5. Your competitor is actually your BFF.

Whatever you felt about competition prior to reading this, let it go. Take a memory loss pill and practice the new idea that your competition is your new BFF (best friend forever).

Within this group we pass along potential clients when we are unable to bring them on, or if there is a conflict of interest. It’s nice to be able to pass along business to a friend versus just saying to clients “no I cannot work with you …”

Good website for productive networking.