We ain’t seen nothing yet. 2009 is going to be a challenging year. We will see loss and failure that will set new records for us personally and for the world. Some of us will not survive, but some will thrive. These are my thoughts on thriving instead of surviving.
Build relationships. The core of business is relationships. Especially in tough economic times the relationships are the key. Who are your friends? How can you help them? Are you asking the right questions in your relationships? Are you asking how you can help? What are your client needs? Where is pain? This is also the time to go back and call on folks that you worked with five or more years ago. You will be pleasantly surprised at the response.
Cost cutting. I have been looking at my 2009 proposed budget and looking at what I can cut out. My biggest expenses are labor and insurance. I am doing more work myself than ever before. I am back to data entry and cutting out all extra projects that require outside labor. Last year I changed my health insurance and opened an HSA.
DIN – do it now. I am always looking for ways to improve my productivity. The DIN is my latest gain. I have been clearing things off my plate faster by doing the needed activity now. I do thing in chunks of about three at a time, take a break and do the next three. Then I keep the pile clearer by doing what comes in, now. An unintended benefit is that I am more relaxed.
Be more deliberate. As I move ahead with a new business, I am more deliberate than ever about the planning. I have been meeting with experts at the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) and listening to friends and colleagues advice with an open mind. In the past, my style was to rush in and do and then revise. For bigger projects I am taking more time at the start to get a better plan.
Purge. Now is the time to get clean up, organize and clear out. Get rid of the clutter. Give it away, gift it, or recycle it. But take some time to clean the office, the closet and the desk. I have cleared away some piles and have been keeping my desk clearer. This has had the benefit of less distraction from the task at hand.
Focus. In my new business projects, I am focusing my efforts on a very narrow window so that I can gain expertise. Then, with success I will branch out. What is your key focus—professionally and personally?
Try new. Organizations that fail in this climate are the ones that stuck to the this-is-the-way-we-always-have-done-it mentality. This is not a normal business cycle. This will require “out of the box” thinking. Do you have the skills to take your team through some creative problem solving? Thinking Skills can help.
Build the team. All players on the team are required to do more. Spend some time improving the team. Thinking Skills has a mosaic of team building programs from clearer communications to improving team problem solving, and from outdoor team building to strategic planning. Investing in the team now will yield improvements in efficiency, productivity and bottom line.
Pick two and get started with those. Remember, this is not a normal business cycle. You will benefit from “out of the box” thinking and team building. We, at Thinking Skills, can help.
Thinking smarter,
Yona