Resolutions

It's New Year's Eve and I am certain that you have tons of resolutions that you are going to make or have made. Some of these resolutions likely involve your small business. After a particularly rocky year, I am sure that one of those resolutions is: make more money. I don't know of anyone, even the very wealthy, who had a bonanza year financially. Even the richest of the rich, guys like Kirk Kerkorian, Robert Tchenguiz and Adolf Merckl are practically going broke, losing billions of dollars of value in their portfolios by the day.

I could be wrong, but the battle cries of the recession has been universal - except maybe for hospitals, shrinks and people who work with the dead - they have really capitalized on the consequences of excess stress and financial shock, I would imagine. Yes, all indicators are the the country is in a recession (as are many countries across the globe) and 2009, according to the economists, pundits and their statistics, is not going to be a heck of a lot better - it may even get worse before it gets better. (Be still your heart!)

I think that one of the ways a small business owner can assure that 2009 is worse than 2008 is to adopt a doomsday attitude and to believe that it will get worse. Negative thinking is singularly the worse thing that can happen to a challenge. In order to succeed, one has to remain certain that one can overcome the core challenges that one faces. One has to stay positive. And focused. One has to resolve to master the challenges, to get on top of them, rather than have the challenges get on top of one.

As a small business person, one of my resolutions this year, 2009, is to remain optimistic. And like president-elect Barack Obama always says, I will adopt the mantra, "yes, I can."

What about you? What are your resolutions for your small business?

Time

What time is it? If you could save time in a bottle, what’s the first thing you’d want to do?

As a small business owner, you may be thinking – and not totally unreasonably – that given the situation with the economy, it is time to make lemonade. And that if you could save time in a bottle, the first thing you’d want to do is take out the time when the economy was strong and small businesses were thriving, and you were making, hopefully, a truck load of cash.

But the times we live in these days, are posing a tremendous strain on most people’s pockets, no matter what the industry. We don’t even have to turn on the TV or log in to our P.C. to know it anymore. We can sense it in our REM sleep that something is terribly amiss.

What do we do, as small business owners, to, if not turn back time, use the time we have now and the resources we have now to our best advantage, and in such a way that when the tides turn, we will be well situated to capitalize on new opportunities? It’s hard to say. I think this will come down to the individual business owner and what his or her particular needs, strengths and weaknesses are, and his or her vision, mission and goals.

There is no question that it is time to live frugally. Like China,’s Mao Ze Dong advocated, it is time for guerilla warfare, time to live close to the land, and to capture the villages before the cities and really take things in smaller rather than larger chunks. It is time to “stretch our resources,” to saddle up and fight for our very existence not only as business people but as citizens of the world. It is time to reflect to see how we may have contributed to our own personal circumstances on a micro level, and to those of the world on a more macro level. It is time to assess whether we are using best practices, or whether the way we go about our every day – including our personal lives and of course, our business, is the best way to do things.

The one thing that is certain, is that time keeps moving on. It does not wait. It cannot be contained. Not in a bottle, not in anything. The current challenges that we face will either move with time, or remain with us in some capacity. But time will change. Time will surely change. This time that is now, will surely pass.

In the meantime, when life gives you lemons, what do you do? You make lemonade. Whether you are in the auto industry, the film industry, the legal profession, journalism, retail or art – whatever your industry as a small business owner, it is definitely time to cut those lemons and make yourself some lemonade. And may God be with you that there's a bit of sugar to neutralize the sour when you lift that chalice to your lips.

Turbocharging

So you want to rev up your small business engines. But you are at a loss of what to do and where to start. Well, whatever the nature of your business, there are certain fundamentals of staying afloat, and even surpassing your own goals. But it takes focus, study, fortitude, insight, street smarts and patience. Do you have the time and inclination to do the things you need to do to turbocharge your business? Well, here are some of the things you might want to start thinking about:

1. Market forces --what is the market like for your business? What are the trends you can capitalize upon to rev up business?

2. Competition -- who are your competitors? What are they doing? Where are they getting clients? How are they treating clients? Are they getting paid for their work? What are their price schemes and price breaks? How experienced are they? What do you need to do to be more competitive with them so that you can get to their level and pass them sooner rather than later?

3. Product proliferation - So you have this business, or this business idea. How unique is it? It is a mass market product or service? Is it available a dime a dozen? If so how can you stay profitable by offering it in a different way to the same clientele like your competitors? Would it be better to stay out of this business to begin (assuming you are not already in it) with given the proliferation of competitors? If you are in it, would it make sense to get out, cut your losses and try something else? If you can't make a profit with your business due to a glutted market place does it make sense to continue? You have to be able to move through the market with some facility. If all around you is a traffic jam you are not going anywhere. Unless, of course, you find a whole different way to travel than everybody else.

4. Identifying core strategic challenges: What is your core business? And what is the biggest challenge you face in making it successful? Once you have identified your greatest challenge, can you brainstorm ideas of how to overcome these challenges? If yes, how soon can you implement these ideas? The bottom line is to "get noticed" and "get paid." That is the ultimate core challenge facing a business. If you are not getting noticed and you are not getting paid, what's the point. Management of your core strategic challenge is the key to turbocharging.

5. Do a cost benefit analysis - Does the cost of your business outweigh the benefits you receive from your business? Look at your balance sheets and financial statements. If your cost consistently outweigh the benefits, it might indicate that you do not have a viable idea. Sometimes you need to give business a chance to gain traction. It can take years to see the fruits of your labor depending on what business you are running. But you have to be tough with yourself. You have to determine if this business can be turbocharged, if it can be revved up, if the fire can be stoked, or if it is dead. If it is dead, cut and move on to the next idea. Don't waste time and resources on a dead idea.

6. Think about expanding and extending - So you are trying to turbocharge your business. You offer one type of product or service. Things are lean. You are not getting traction. Well maybe you need to consider expanding and extending your core. Can you add other services and competencies? Are you proficient with any other skills you are not currently employing? Is there an additional product that you can fairly easily add that will complement your core business? Don't atrophy. Think flexibly.

7. Use technology to your advantage - There are so many ways that technology improves your game. No business today can turbocharge if that business is technologically inept. Get online. There are tons of free resources on line that are specific to any business that will help you rev up your engines. It's about R&D. You have to be willing to do the research, and to develop the ideas you get from the research.