Recessions, boom years, credit crunches… they are all a natural part of our lives. An integral part of the huge economy we are all a part of. You can’t have a boom time without a bust time. They follow each other like night follows day. Life constantly cycles. All the recent noise the experts have been making about global warming for instance. It is a proven fact that every 10,000 years or so our planet goes through an ice-age. We can’t fight it, we can’t stop it. There were no cars, aeroplanes or huge factories belching stuff into the atmosphere that caused the last ice-age and changes the politicians propose aren’t going to stop Mother Nature going through her cycles of life.
Recessions come and go every few years. They are nothing to be afraid of; they are just a normal part of business life. It is always sad when a business folds. The owner of that business will blame the recession, competition, changes of tastes, any manner of factors rather than own up to the fact that they allowed their business to fold. It folded because they wouldn’t, couldn’t or simply didn’t see the need to change and adapt as the world around it changed and adapted.
The worst thing you can do for your business at any time, let alone in tough economic times, is just to carry on regardless as if nothing has changed. Things are always changing and you need to constantly adapt and tweak your business in order for it to evolve and stay profitable.
A business that doesn’t change over time will certainly die and it will be solely the business owner’s fault.
It doesn’t mean that you have to drop all the traditional values of excellent service and quality products, just that the way you present your business, the way you market your business, the way you conduct your business all need to move on constantly.
A small company has a huge advantage over a large one in any trading conditions simply because it can act immediately to conditions around it. There is no waiting for a board meeting, for a committee to assess and report, for backers to be swayed. A small company can see an opportunity and jump on it without delay.
It is no good for a small local computer shop, for example, to try and under-cut the likes of Dell or PC World when supplying hardware items. But a small business can easily find small niches that the big players never spot, or are simply not geared up to support. Have you ever tried to get PC World to repair your 6 month old computer? Well, they can’t. They send them away for several weeks to another business set up for that purpose. Most business people though are completely dependent on their computer and the thought if it being sent away for weeks is unthinkable. So, step in the small business who loves fault finding on machines. They will come to your office, fix your fault and have you up and running again within hours.
Pundits have forecast the demise of the good old English Pub at least twice in recent years but most of us still have a Pub within easy walking distance. The first death knell was cheap imported alcohol from the EU when the borders were opened up. There were experts showing people driving over to France on a day trip coming back loaded with cheap booze for their own consumption. Vans overflowing, trailers packed solid. It would be wrong to say this didn’t have an effect on Pubs because it did. People chose to stay at home and drink their cheap imported alcohol instead of going out. But did it kill the Pubs? No. Most of them adapted to this new scenario but devising ways to lure people out of their homes and back into the Pubs by changing the way they operated.
The second death knell was the smoking ban. Experts said it was an infringement of civil liberties, people only went to the Pub for a social drink and a smoke and now they couldn’t do that they would boycott Pubs. Again, the forecast disaster never happened. Pubs fought back with smoking areas to keep the smokers happy and again used other means to bring people into the Pubs, not least, those of us who don’t smoke and couldn’t tolerate going into a smoky Pub before the ban. Food also now features in most Pubs, quizzes, hog roasts, bbq’s, slave auctions, charity nights, darts teams, function room rental etc. Some of which they did before, but some of which they could now pull in a whole new audience for.
Can you see the differences here?
Even when times are tough and competition fierce, there are still opportunities for entrepreneurs to find and exploit for the benefit of their business. You will find some of these methods here to help you through the current trading conditions.
Remember…
Your business will only die during a recession if you do nothing different.
Your business will only die, regardless of any current boom or recession, if you do nothing different.
Recession - What Recession?? - To learn more about this author, visit Ray Stewart's Website.
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Ray Stewart
(Visit Ray's Website)
Ray Stewart is the MD of Coalville
Business Services Limited. He writes
articles and reports about bookkeeping and
business growth strategies, the two areas
of business he is most passionate about.
His bookkeeping business website is at expe
rtbookkeeping.info and is a free
resource for people looking for simple
answers to bookkeeping questions and a
chance to speak to him for free if you
can't find the answer you are looking for.
You can also visit his private blog at raystewart.b
iz and subscribe to the RSS feed there
to keep right up to date.
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