I refuse to participate in a recession

I refuse to participate in a recession

I have not written a post in a while because I have been on the road. I recently made a road trip around the country doing speeches and teaching seminars and workshop on how to deal with difficult people. It is amazing to me how people are the same wherever I go.

During this trip I must have talked to 300 people from all walks of life. These individuals were located in New Your State to New Mexico and I heard the same story again and again – my business is good.

I talked to kitchen designers in New York and they were having their best year ever. They are hiring and they attended the workshop to be more effective in dealing with customer related issues that happen when you redo a kitchen. I talked to business consultant who were doing well. The consultants who were doing well were very clear on their value proposition. The ones that did not have clear value proposition were not doing so well.

Even the bail bonds people (in el Paso) I talked to were having a good year (OK that might be an stretch. But I think that might be more localized to El Paso and the border issues they deal with.)

Every city I was in the headlines in the paper promoted a recession. Tell that to the nursing supervisor in Albuquerque who could not find a reasonably price apartment. Though housing processes are dropping is some parts of the country it is not doing so everywhere.

Tell that to a minister who is rebuilding a church after a fire. Money is tight but people are giving to what is important to them.

Tell that to a training company who is doing project management training. She is so busy her company is doing two classes a day; one in the morning and one in the evening. What I am seeing is not what is being reported.

Why is that? I am not sure but I do know good news does not sell newspapers (especially in an election year.)

My business is doing well. People are slower to make a decision but they are deciding. I had three great opportunities surface in the last 24 hours.

How much is election year hype and how much is it expectations. Does the expectation come before the actual recession or does the recession generate the expectations?

If you are clear on your value proposition and you have an effective marketing campaign in place I would think you are doing ok.

Have I changed my behavior – sure, especially when it comes to driving. I try hard to make sure the trip is necessary and the business cannot be handled over the phone. I recently drove to Canfield (50 miles each way) and the trip cost me about 15 dollars in gas. I am not driving less as much as I am being more purposeful. I also see the strong potential in high gas prices: more green technology, more alternatives, and more opportunity for some creative entrepreneur.

I have seen an increase in my grocery bill but I still have to eat. The good news is that I being forces to eat differently (more healthy) because of the cost. I find that a great opportunity to change my behavior for the better. I am not eating out as much. I am selecting less processed foods when I do eat out. I dropped 12 pounds over the last 8 weeks. If it takes higher food prices for me to be more selective how can that be totally bad?

I figure if I look hard enough I can find something good about in just about any situation. I refuse to buy into the recession. I refuse to buy into the negative beliefs about the economy. My thought is that I can change my behavior, adapt to the situation and still grow my business.

Maybe if enough of us don’t buy in the recession, maybe there does not need to be one.

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

ron@akris.net