Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header
Share for a Cause









10 Lessons Learned During A Weak Economy

Written by: Alvah Parker

Article Overview: Quiet times allow us the time to grow and to be creative. A lull in the economy provides the opportunity to regroup and rethink plans. Farmers allow a field to lay fallow for a year before planting again. The soil produces more after the rest. New ideas often come when a person is not so busy.

Free Download - How To Be Happy at Work? Acknowledge Yourself By Alvah Parker
Name: Email:

10 Lessons Learned During A Weak Economy

Quiet times allow us the time to grow and to be creative. A lull in the economy provides the opportunity to regroup and rethink plans. Farmers allow a field to lay fallow for a year before planting again. The soil produces more after the rest. New ideas often come when a person is not so busy.

1. Good friends are priceless when things are tough. They often can provide the emotional support needed to stay focused.

2. Keeping a list of contacts with whom a person networks gives one confidence that the resources will be there if it is necessary to find a new job.

3. Tolerance for risk is really challenged in a slow economy. It’s important to remember the feeling when the economy starts growing again!

4. One can learn to live on less by getting serious about cutting expenses.

5. It is important that not to overload a portfolio with stock from the company one works for. Always use asset allocation to make a balanced portfolio.


6. Profits may be less in good times but losses won't be so big in bad.

7. Getting additional training is a person's own responsibility not his/her employers. Keeping skills up to date increases a person's marketability.

8. It is important to pay off credit card balances when the economy is good so there will be no debt to pay off when things get tight.

9. Make friends both inside and outside of work. Losing a job is difficult enough but losing daily contact with friends too can be devastating.

10. No one is an employee for life. All jobs are temporary.

Related Articles
  Important "Lessons Learned” For Leaders, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Ten More Important “Lessons Learned” For Leaders, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Leadership Lessons Heard
  It Takes Teamwork to Make a Company Dream Work
  Franchising Advantages in a Bad Economy

Home > Business-Coach > Alvah Parker > 10 Lessons Learned During A Weak Economy
Article Tags: bad economy, credit card balances, employee for life, quiet times

About the Author: Alvah Parker
RSS for Alvah's articles - Visit Alvah's website

Alvah Parker is a Practice Advisor (The Attorneys’ Coach) and a Career Changers’ Coach as well as publisher of "Parker’s Points", an email tip list and "Road to Success", an ezine. Subscribe now to these free monthly publications at her website http://www.asparker.com/samples.html and receive a free values assessment. Work becomes more meaningful and enjoyable when you work from your values. Alvah Parker began her career as a high school chemistry teacher. She later transitioned to a sales career at AT&T. As a Sales Professional at AT&T for 15 years she was elected to the prestigious Counsel of Leaders for the top 3% of the sales force. After leaving AT&T she transitioned into a coaching career.  Alvah is a senior coach for Boxwood Technology where she coaches association members on career issues and also  a SCORE Business Counselor where she advises and counsels small business owners. Parker’s Value Program© enables her clients to find their own way to work that is more fulfilling and profitable. Her clients are attorneys, entrepreneurs, managers and people in transition who want to find work that is in line with their own values. Alvah is found on the web at http://www.asparker.com. She may also be reached at 781-598-0388.

Click here to visit Alvah's website
Dashed Line

More from Alvah Parker
10 Ideas about Life Purpose
Relieving Stress by Getting The Work Done
10 Ways to Refresh Yourself During The Holiday Rush
Ten Habits for More Brain Power
Ten Ways to Cope with Stress


Related Forum Posts
300 rules! 300 rules! - 300 was my favorite movie of 2007 and Kevin you did a great job in highlighting the Business Lessons from the Movie.
Napoleon on Project Management Napoleon on Project Management - Why do I include this in a list of books aimed at female entrepreneurs? Well...in the expectation that there are as many female history buffs as male ones, and in the belief that anyone interested in history will find this book fascinating, while those interested in project management will learn a thing or two. I think this was the first "gimmick" book - an author using a historical figure (usually a male, military figure, it must be admitted) to talk about modern day business management. I refuse to read any of the kind that advocates - even obliquely - the techniques of the Sopranos or the Mossad - but these military ones are pretty fun. Anyway: Only in the understanding of history, Napoleon might say, do we gain an understanding of strategy in the present. In the same spirit, Napoleon on Project Management offers the recipe for successfully managing your commitments using the strategies, tactics and priorities that propelled Napoleon himself to victory. [The book doesn't gloss over how Napolean eventually fell in defeat, of course, and there's lessons to be learned there as well. TOC Foreword by Douglas James Allan (Napoleanic Society of America) 1. The Rise to Power -The Skills to Succeed -A Compelling Vision -Diplomacy and Networking -Lessons from the Great Campaigns 2. Napoleon's 6 Winning Principles -Introduction -Exactitude -Speed -Flexibility -Simplicity -Character -Moral Force 3. The Downfall -What Went Wrong -Lessons from the Russian Invasion and Waterloo -The Four Critical Warning Signs -Napoleon's Legacy
Ebay actually drives prices up... Ebay actually drives prices up... - I have an acquaintance who collects rare books. He went off on a rant about Ebay in his blog a couple of weeks ago. It used to be he could buy books for quite reasonable sums, but ever since Ebay debuted, people are putting their stuff up their with inflated reserve bids, and the uninformed public are buying those books at ridiculous prices...so now even book collectors that don't deal on Ebay are also inflating their prices, because if people are too stupid to know what is proper market value... For myself, I fell victim once... not so much to a scam but to my own lack of knowledge of what I was buying... Way back in the 70s Forrest J. Ackerman published 8 issues of a magazine called Spaceman, and I wanted them all. I also thought they were very rare and was willing to pay any price to get them. So I bid $100 for a beat up old issue of Spacemen 1, and got it, and of course next week another issue was up there for $20. So I was not a happy camper. Lessons are - know the market value of what you want to buy and realize that there are other places besides Ebay where you can get it.
Re: What Do Women Entrepreneurs Want? Re: What Do Women Entrepreneurs Want? - [quote="Tami Szabo":1ya8y88l]Shri, I really appreciate what you said. When we place the blame elsewhere, we give our power away. However, when we look at ourselves and our our ability to create the lives and businesses that we want, we empower ourselves. Kevin asked what I'd like to see with this forum and I think you and I are on the same page. I want to see this as a community of intelligent women where we inspire each other to think bigger and open up to the great possibilities for ourselves and our businesses. I truly believe each one of us women has great talent and potential. When we stop comparing ourselves with others and simply focus on succeeding at being the amazing women we already are, we give ourselves permission to grow forward in incredible ways. Fear takes a back seat because it's not about impressing others, but simply expressing who we already are. Since we're all great women, we have nothing to prove. I desire to see this forum as a safe place to share our plans and invite the best of each other forward. Let's set a precedence of not measuring our value against other women or men. We are not a threat to each other! Imagine the powerful force we will be if we learn to come together and keep inviting each one to reveal her great talents. With much warmth and sincerity, Tami[/quote:1ya8y88l] I like Shri's comments as well because people who complain a lot only make themselves look bad rather than their subject matter. And Tami, when you said that you have a "desire to see this forum as a safe place to share our plans and invite the best of each other forward" it reminded me of the book "Don't Think Pink" by Lisa Johnson & Andrea Learned. In that book, the authors share your sentiments by saying "Hosting a forum through which your women customers can share their stories with one another...women will remember the brand that helped them find a solution-oriented community, and they will remain loyal and very likely spread the word about it to their friends” ("Don't Think Pink" 73).
Are You a Businessgirl or a Businesswoman? Are You a Businessgirl or a Businesswoman? - One thing that has irked me off and on for 30 years is the tendency of people - both men [i:2wryyhvf]and [/i:2wryyhvf]women, to refer to women, whatever their age, as 'girls' rather than women. College basketball announcers, coachers and players do it, as do the fans. These are 'girls' who are between the ages of 18 - 21, that's women in my book. Tennis players and announcers do it. John McEnroe called 'em girls and just when I was getting annoyed at him for being a bit of a male chauvanist, they interviewed player Lindsay Davenport - 30 years old, and she referred to 'em as girls as well. The Bond "girls" were girls up until the 90s, I admit, doing nothing more than providing someone for Bond to bed and rescue, but in the last few installments the "girl" has been more of a power player...nevertheless she's still a 'girl'. And of course there was the TV series The Golden Girls - which I liked by the way, but which featured mature women calling themselves girls And now here it is in the 2000s, and we get this: The Girl's Guide To Starting Your Own Business, by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio. Their photos are on the cover - presumably the photo is of them and not models - and they are definitely women, not girls. And what "girly" chapter titles do they give us? "The Scary Stuff" (financial matters) and a chapter on ACTING Like an Adult. (Caps mine). So popular was this book, apparently, that they've now come out with a sequel: The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being A Bitch): Valuable Lessons, Smart Suggestions, and true stories for succeeding as the CHICK-IN-CHARGE. (My caps) and once again I was tempted to take the book and throw it across the room. Let's indulge in [i:2wryyhvf]all [/i:2wryyhvf]the cliches, shall we? So I'd like to hear from other businesswomen out there. Do you find yourself referred to as a girl? Do you mind it? Do you like the culture that still propagates that mindset?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article


Bottom Footer
Share for a Cause












Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Life, Conflict and Work

Ten Twitter Tips For Work-at-Home Moms

TRADE SHOW FOLLOW-UP: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.