Down turn, slow down, general belt tightening

It seems to be topical, so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss giving you my thoughts and opinions on the downturn, slow down or whatever other euphemistic way you would like to put it when there is just less cash floating around freely in our economies.
It's funny but I was watching reports on the various stock exchanges around the world for the past week and the trends all looked similar, a big dip on the 22nd of April and then a bit of an upturn. In what could be called the larger economies (just sheer size of land and population) the upturn was a lot higher than in smaller economies, just an interesting but maybe also not so relevant fact and it could have to do with the fact that I was born in a small economy (Belgium: about 11 million of us) and now live in an even smaller economy with more land and bigger ambitions (Ireland: 4.5 million). My immediate thought was that a one week summary really only gives us a snapshot, the monthly or even yearly trend would give us a better indication of where the turn of the economy is heading, but I am sure you can read that in the trusted media, who don't like to hype anything either way or politicians who come up with new 'positive' words every day to avoid saying recession. Interesting developments, don't you think?

Anyway what does it really mean to the man in the street really? I know from my experience that getting paid for your services seems to be like drawing blood from stones lately and that alot of people are holding off on training and coaching because it's a perceived luxury for when there is money in surplus. In my (biased) view, now is 'the' time to invest in coaching and training, because now more than ever you need that focus and advantage over your competition. I deal with start-ups a lot and now is an ideal time to set up a business, why? Because if you manage to grow a business in an economy where the drivers are going the opposite way, you are building a business from the right basics and you will have a close eye on cost controls, effective marketing, operational efficiency, etc. In an up-time anyone can set up a business and gain a part of the money that is floating, in a down-turn those that really have value to offer and do it efficiently will get that slice.

Is it time to panic? I wouldn't think so, my advice to clients is keep up what you are doing, keep an eye costs and look where you are spending without returns, but marketing is really where your message may need to be adapted, finding joint venture partners where you can share skills, looking at other markets. No matter which way the economy goes, there are always large corporations making some serious profit and lots of small ones too. Small companies have the advantage that they can adapt and change and respond to a changing market, so now is a good time to have a look at which parts of your market are making money and then use focus. Also look at what opportunities are out there for you, which if you worked on them now, will create great returns in years to come.

In my case what I am doing is looking at associate partnering with a number of other organisations, I am tweaking my online presence and learning about e-commerce at a rate of knots and I am working on more products, which is something I have been meaning to do and didn't get around to because I was too busy. As for potential work I have a pipeline full of projects, that are supposedly ready to go any minute now (for the last 6 months that is if not even longer). All I am saying is do what you can do to keep your faith in your success and business, even if it is only one small step at a time.

Recession are always full of stories of businesses closing and staff losing jobs and the media does their bit to keep us focussed on this, however the same climate is also where true business success is created because entrepreneurs learn the business basics the hard way from cost control to efective marketing to the importance of the team. If you haven't figurred this out, find the best coach (I know one up close and personal) and work with them on getting the basics right. At this point in economic times putting your head in the sand and doing what you always did, is not a smart move, in my view it's asking for trouble. Remember small business is adaptable and can move quickly, and that's where you for once have an advantage over the big boys.

Creative writing and research

Since early last year I am part of a local creative writing group attached to the library in my neighbourhood, we meet once a week and I attend whenever I can actually make it there. It always fascinates me though that we are such an eclectic bunch of people interested in writing all sorts of things from stories to poems, to novels and then very factual things for business or about history. Basically anything goes and the discussion around it is quite stimulating.

It's thanks to this group my first e-book actually did come to fruition, which is still for sale on http://www.brightbusinesscoaching.com/main/page_our_shop_ebook_something_has_got_to_give.html.
It's amazing what a bit of discipline and regularity can do. Last night in the group we had received an invite for a writing weekend retreat and the price was around €375 for the 3 days without food and accommodation, which in my view was very reasonable, considering I would have probably charged that or more for the one day. However the general consensus was that the price was outrageous, I suppose when you are not used to dealing with people in business or with people that truly go after what they want no matter what the price is, opinions can differ. And maybe that is also a sign of the times, because I am by far the youngest member of the group and maybe the older generation just grew up with different price structures. Food for thought in any case.

Encouraged by the response of my writing group as a result of publishing my e-book and a number of positive comments from people in the business ,which I respect and look up to, I have now decided to complete a book project that I started earlier this year around decision making in relation to business.

I have mapped out the majority of the work and book outline a number of months ago with the assistance of Mindy Gibbins-Klein, aka The Bookmidwife. With the Irish economy slowing down and my travel schedule easing a little, I once again have a block of time to work on this project and feel like a restart with new energy thanks to the writing group. Although I have to say sometimes I do think I have very little in common with most of them, the love of writing, reading and having an opinion is probably the mutual line between us. As one of my favourite guru's says if you have an opinion become know for it.

Because of this book project I invite and encourage all of you that read to fill me in with how you make decisions when it comes to your business or if you have come across academic or other research regarding decisions, by all means pass it on to me and you never know, it may well be published in the coming months. All contributions will off course be named and recognised appropriately in the final version.

Writing just like everything takes practice and having gotten into the routine of a monthly newsletter and regular blog updates both for this one and the business book blog about what I am reading, my confidence has grown. This book may well put me on the map as an expert in my field or it may just be one of the also-ran, however the joy of writing and researching it and what it does to keep me sane in the quieter times, is something that nobody can take away from an author. So why not follow you passion and start practising the small steps that could potentially lead to the bigger dreams.

I remember in primary school having to draw a picture of what we would be when we grew up and because I already was an avid reader one of the things I drew was being an author. In our house the typewriter if left unattended had me practising my skills, because my dad was a journalist I often tagged along to see how he worked and I worked summer jobs in the newspaper and the odd time I even got a little piece published with his assistance.

As soon as I started coaching youth teams in basketball it became my job to give a short write up for the club magazine, which was always read by the kids and their proud parents. When I got to secondary school, I even managed to have an essay published in the official school magazine, however I still questioned the teacher on why she only gave me 19/20 when there were no obvious mistakes and I will never forget her response either 'nobody is perfect'. Shortly after that I had my own revenge and started the school magazine and in our first issue we published a questionnaire that had circulated the whole school about life of a student, our thoughts and opinions on teachers etc. We even had a caricaturist, who used class time as very fruitful production time. Needless to say the first issue was a hit and sold out more than once.

Then I don't know what happened, because I had a ten or more year gap where I did little or no writing other than necessary things for my degree, masters or work. The recent writing group and dabbling at Internet communications with newsletters and blogs with positive feedback on all of them, seems to have rekindled that dream for me.

If you have a dream, then just go for it, if nothing else the pursuit is enjoyable, at least that's what I am finding!