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The Upside to the Downside

Written by: Anthony Mora

Article Overview: I’m not denying the economic hard times, but I am saying that not only are we finally beginning to see positive news filter through, but that there have also been upsides to this financial upheaval we’ve been going through. Lessons can be learned and fortunes made during tough economic times. It was during the Great Depression that the billion dollar cosmetics industry was launched.

The Upside to the Downside

We’ve found ourselves in the deepest recession that most of us have ever experienced.Many have been laid off, or, downsized. It’s been a rough ride not just for us but for the global economy.So, this is starting off to be a fun read, right?I could go on to list a myriad other downsides to what’s been going on, but that’s not my point here.I’m a firm believer that perception does indeed help shape reality and if the perception is that we are all going to hell in a hand basket – away we will go. How we react to the downsides will not only dictate how long they will last, but, how we can best navigate through them and how we’ll prepare ourselves to thrive as the correction begins.

I’m not denying the economic hard times, but I am saying that not only are we finally beginning to see positive news filter through, but that there have also been upsides to this financial upheaval we’ve been going through.For example:

As prices rise and wages fall, the everyday consumer is rethinking his or her spending. This has allowed businesses such as repair shops, used clothing stores, to thrive. Goodwill stores are rebranding themselves.They and other stores that were once known as hand-me-down or second-hand clothing stores, will more and more be known not as used, but as vintage clothing establishments.

When it comes to other-worldly matters, psychics and astrologers have certainly seen a spike in their business as more executives are consulting them on professional and business merger advice.Consultants who don’t have the ability to communicate with the other side are doing well, positioning themselves as valuable advisors, helping people make smart decisions about investing, job hunting, real estate, marketing and other business and personal areas.

A new group of accidental entrepreneurs who have lost their jobs have dusted themselves off, marched forward, and gone on and created new companies, using initiative and creativity to form new companies.In doing so they are creating jobs.

Yes there are upsides to this downside.Wherever you find yourself in this economy, continue to look towards the light.While others stick their head in the sand hoping to wait it out, move forward, rethink your business strategies, your customer base, your marketing and PR outreach.Keep in mind that, because the competition is cutting back their marketing outreach, businessescan reach their target market and increase their market share much more effectively during economic tough times.Be bold.Remember, the so-called Great Depression launched the billion dollar cosmetics industry.Fortunes are made during tough economic times.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2009

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Article Tags: financial upheaval, firm believer, global economy, going to hell, hand basket, nbsp, perception, positive news, recession, rough ride, rsquo, shape, span style, style color, style font, wages



Related Forum Posts
Money Does Not Guarantee Happiness - Very good point. In the opening of Upping the Downside by Mike Jay, the first chapter mentioned that the buying power in the US had grown by 3 - 4 times since the end of WWII - but the number of people who identify themselves as happy has decreased noticeably during that time. I meet people who don't really have a "purpose" in life and its sad to see them floating along, rarely being happy or even satisfied with their lives, but they don't know how or won't do anything to improve their situation. The book I mentioned is about resilience, but so far there is some very great information about finding purpose and finding out what we should do with our lives. Chris
Run a major competition - You beat me to the punch LoveInventions! I was just on my way to post this! The idea is simple: run a competition for a major prize to get people posting. In this case Darren put up a $729 Nikon DSLR up for grabs as the top prize. The winner was selected randomly and each post you wrote gave you another chance to win. [quote:1nc4sv0r]The Goal - the aim of the exercise was simple. To sign up new members to my forum and increase page views. My hope was to have a bumper month but also get new members signed up to have an ongoing impact on overall activity going forward.[/quote:1nc4sv0r] [quote:1nc4sv0r]Results: Traffic - Over the full month traffic was increased 66.7%.[/quote:1nc4sv0r] [quote:1nc4sv0r]Results: New Members - Recruiting new members to the forum was another goal of the competition. We’d had an influx in January of 1803 new sign ups as a result of a previous smaller competition but since had been around the 1200 per month. April however saw a boost in numbers by an extra 2823 members.[/quote:1nc4sv0r] [quote:1nc4sv0r]Results: Activity - Another bonus related to increased traffic is the increases in user activity on the forum. Here’s the increase in new ‘threads’ to the forum (up from the 1500’s to just over 4000 for the month). And here is the increase in new posts (up from 1400 per month to over 43000 for the month).[/quote:1nc4sv0r] [quote:1nc4sv0r] The Downside So far it’s sounding fairly rosy isn’t it. Increases in traffic, members, activity and even earning are all good. However there was two downsides. 1. Moderation Workload - I have an amazing team of moderators to DPS but the month of April was the hardest that they’ve ever worked. I totally underestimated the extra load upon them in setting up this competition. It has made me reconsider how I run future competitions. 2. Impact upon Quality of Reader Interaction - over all the increased activity of the site brought in some wonderful new members who are interacting on the site with genuine interaction. However a small number of new members were just there for the competition - even though I made it clear that spammy entries wouldn’t win. This impacted moderators workloads but also the overall morale on the site a little. I think we managed to contain it but again - next time I run a competition it’ll not be based upon post numbers but rather some sort of quality level of interaction.[/quote:1nc4sv0r] What do you guys think? Is it worth testing out? Considering we already give out over $1,000 in month prizes, what would be the ultimate prize that we award at the end of the competition?


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