by G. A. Hazelwood

Created on: April 29, 2008   Last Updated: May 08, 2008

Economic hard times come around periodically, and a bountiful decade followed by tighten-your-belt decade is a cyclical norm to the marketplace. I've owned a number of small businesses over the years and have learned the first thing to do is evaluate and adjust my own thinking if need be. I need to set aside panic and negativism, and maintain a positive mental attitude. I need to sincerely transmit this to my employees and my customers. Nothing can kill a business quicker than gloom and doom. Small business owners have the advantage of being closer to their employees and their customers than the CEO in the ivory tower, and their attitude can impact both the employee and the customer much more.

If your feeling the crunch of the current economic downfall, you need to sit down with a cup of coffee, pen and pad, and take stock of your situation and circumstance. Keep your assessment simple. Is your business currently suffering? How much from your last calendar year? Your last quarter? How rapid does the downturn appear to be affecting you? How is your cash reserve, and your available credit line? Include any other pertinent questions that may come to mind relevant to your particular business.

It is important not to begin with slash and burn tactics as a first alternative rather than a last resort. If you do need to take cost-cutting measures, think of it in military terms. Sounds a bit absurd? Not really. It may be a more beneficial perspective of evaluation than it first appears. A general is engaged in a losing battle, how does he retreat? Does he sound the bugle and have everyone run for cover helter skelter in disorganized panic? Or isn't a more ordered approach better, where he forms skirmish lines, one line dropping back over the other until he's completed his retreat, and then perhaps be ready to fight again another day. Much the same in business, list your incremental steps in cutting back by priority, taking the smallest increments first. Wild-eyed panic does not breed trust in your business, by employees or customers.

Evaluate your utilities, is there any area that can be realistically adjusted for savings? Look at your back-stock in inventory, can it be reasonably trimmed? If you deliver goods, look to your routing and dispatch, can rerouting or rescheduling by perhaps combining geographical areas into specific days of the week save valuable mileage in today's high priced fuel market? However, never make rescheduling efforts at the expense of customer service.

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