by Ted Little

Created on: January 16, 2009   Last Updated: March 30, 2009

"It's time for a change", they say.

An angry bear is pursuing two inept bear hunters. One stops to exchange his hiking boots for running shoes. Puzzled, the first hunter says, "Do you really think that will help you out run that bear? ", The second hunter's reply is, "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to out run you." Harsh words for hard times, but the angry bears we face are a sagging economy and being confronted by a new political climate, one which traditionally is not friendly toward the entrepreneur. Its time for a change, but let's see how that applies to us.

In business we must have a clear image of our economic destination. A person without a goal is like a ship without a rudder, and both will probably end up on the rocks. The original goals you had for your business may have changed over the years, and rendered obsolete the decisions you now make. Like a pursued hunter you must keep your destination clear, but cherish the freedom to choose new and unforeseen opportunities when they arrive. Your reexamined goals should precede any major decision you make. The American car manufactures have ignored this rule with dire results.

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you don't believe this, just look at a map. It's much easier to drive from LA to New York using a map than to follow a written description of the route. Oddly enough there is a map of sorts that will assist you in reaching your business decisions. This map is created when you transfer the dry and sometimes confusing statistics of your business to a graphic form. At a glance you can see either the decline or rise in factors critical to the operation of your business. The operational status of your business can be determined from the graph and the proper responses applied to either assist or inhibit the condition being addressed. The user-friendly ability of a properly constructed graph to display the condition of a critical element in your business has been well documented. Good communicators will invariably utilize the graph's ability to identify and convey trends.

A lot has been written concerning the proper response to apply to conditions being displayed while examining a business graph. I am passing on what seems true to me, and in my own words.

The slope of the line identifies a trend in a chart. An example would be a line showing a sharp decline in a valuable asset over a period of time. If this were describing sales, it would define sales as being in a state of danger. The response

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