Recession Busting Secret #2
Are You a Resilient, Self-Reliant Entrepreneur?
“The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don’t have it.” – George Bernard Shaw
1856 – 1950
In 1998 I did a presentation on which businesses would boom, and which businesses would struggle in the new millenium.
The title was “What’s Hot and What’s Not: How to Cash in on the Great Boom Ahead”.
In the presentation I revealed that there was some good news and bad news ahead. The good news was “It’s never been a better time to get rich”. The reason for this was, the highest earning, largest spending, most entrepreneurial group in history, the Baby Boomers born during 1945 – 1965, was at the peak of their spending cycle.
No great revelation here. Harry S Dent laid it out perfectly in his book “The Great Boom Ahead”.
Now for the bad news.
The bad news was, “You’ve got about 10 good years ahead to take advantage of the boom times.” After that, simply based on the age-driven spending and the earlier retirement of the same group I’ve described above, a Recession – if not Depression – is inevitable.
We really were living in a unique period of time. The trick was to take advantage of it. Of course, most didn’t, and were most likely oblivious to this sort of information.
History will also show that in a unique period of time our life expectancy grew about 15 years, so not only was the largest group broke, having not taken care of their retirement, but they were actually going to live longer than any other group in history also.
Now that’s where the spiral begins, because future generations can’t afford to pay for the Baby Boomer’s long retirement. Hence, we’ve now witnessed the retirement age of Baby Boomers blowing out.
2 reasons:
1. They can’t afford it
2. Retirement is hard for some to swallow
Remember, they’re hard-working and entrepreneurial.
Fast forward now to October 2008.
“The world was half a step away last night from the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression after $55 billion was wiped off Australian share values and analysts warned worse was to come”
- The West Australian Wednesday 1st October 2008
Heck, I’ve even seen 4 businesses, some of them very long standing, close their doors on a small shopping strip near my office in the last 4 months. And that’s in spite of the “booming” West Australian economy.
Now, I’m not for 1 moment, preaching that the sky is going to fall. What I am, however, is a purveyor of harsh reality, and someone who has made accurate observation and been criticized for it in the past.
It is my belief, that behind every disaster or problem, there is a bigger and greater opportunity. I’ve not changed that view where the world economic crisis is concerned.
But there is going to be a TRANSFER OF WEALTH. Most likely, the BIGGEST the world has ever seen.
There are going to be Recession stories like the businesses not far from my office, having to close
their doors after 30 years.
It is sad. Very sad. But also inevitable, simply because these businesses have not changed with the times.
They’ve not given their clients more and better reasons to shop with them. Particularly, when times are tough. They’ve not become master marketers. It’s fools gold to expect to prosper, doing things the way you’ve always done them when times are tougher.
What you do want to be, is the LEAST and LAST affected by any economic conditions most would consider out of their control.
Of course, those who can afford it least will be the FIRST and MOST affected. And entrepreneurs hold a special place and responsibility
With an internationally worsening economy, legitimate factors likely to put the nations economy into a recession, if not depression and some of the world’s foremost economists predicting one of the largest crashes of all time, it’s time to pull your head out of the sand and prepare for what could also be one of the greatest opportunities we’ve seen.
After all, history has shown us that it’s possible to thrive during difficult economic conditions, if, of course you know how.
It is important that you and I do not make this worse than it need be for ourselves or for those who depend on us, letting concerns of a recession permeate our everyday happenings. As a resilient, self-reliant entrepreneur and business owner, your attitude and behavior is as important as what is happening in itself.
The only thing we have complete control of in the world is…
How we choose to react to information or events.
Your responsibilities have not changed one iota, nor should these events be allowed to rob you of any income you have worked tirelessly to engineer.
We are, on a whole, easily distracted from our responsibilities. In fact, many people secretly welcome every excuse to escape their daily routine in favour of the nearest drama, be it Hollywood trivia or who is going to be the next President of the United States!
It is a tragedy that those with a weak emotional constitution are legitimately incapacitated by “other
people’s pain” virtually frozen and incapacitated by imagined fear.
My challenge to you as resilent, self-reliant entrepreneur, business owner, corporate executive or working class folk
is to ignore distraction and stay focused on only those things you do have some say in.
Here’s one way you can ensure you’ll be LEAST and LAST affected, instead of FIRST and MOST affected by any
Recession, or economic conditions.
Take Full Advantage of Your Competitors’ Fears and Timidity in a Recession by Cranking Up Your Marketing Aimed at Getting New Clients.
Why? Because many companies cut back on direct-mail in favour of e-mail, or other so-called “easier” and cheaper forms of marketing, others cut back because of the postal increase, so there was less competition, less clutter in the mailbox!
So, the “tigers” eat even better than usual in the jungle and starve last. So become the tiger of your jungle.
The exact same thing occurs in a soft economy: the herd starves, but the tigers eat even better! Competitors negative “overresponse” to the changing economic conditions means more opportunity for you.
Of course, you might target different potential customers. Or alter your message. But you should still go out after them full bore.
An analogy – overall last year, most major users of direct-mail saw increases in response to their “controls” – their previous predictable response rate.
Why? Because their competitors were cutting back and looking for a cheaper alternative.
The best part about your competitor cutting back as, it will thin the herd. When good times come around as they always do, there’ll be less competitors and less clutter for you.
All the Best
Mal Emery
Committed to Elevating the Financial Wealth and Wellbeing of Society Through Entrepreneurial Excellence and Guilty of Conspiracy to Create Capitalism.
P.S. If you want to learn how to really recession-proof your business,come and join us at the Silent Killer Seminar. Visit:
www.SilentKillerSeminar.com
