Friday morning at 1:30 March 27 the phone rang.  As most of us know when you receive a phone call at that hour it is almost never good.  On the other end a female voice said very tenderly, “I am sorry to tell you Mr. Scott that your mother passed away at 1:15 this morning. 

Immediately I was caught up in and sucked into a vortex of emotion.  Where things had been moving along well in my business and life they now began to swirl.  I am a small businessman, like many of you reading this post.  Owning your own business presents many challenges.  One of the biggest ones is how you handle what goes on in your personal life.

Before I had a chance to think my sister was on the phone.  We talked briefly.  I told her I had to go because I had to call the funeral home. 

I reached the funeral home and got things underway.  Friday was a day of many calls.  I was in charge of my mother’s affairs.  She had not been well the past few years.  Yet, her death came suddenly and unexpectedly. 

Emotionally, I have been riding a roller coaster.  Most of the time I have either been flat or down.  Today has been better.  I have received many great e-mail tributes that recognize her and her contributions to others.  I have felt more up.  Early tomorrow morning I will fly from Texas to Philadelphia and spend the next four days closing the book on the life of my wonderful mother. 

She taught me many things that have helped me in small business.  One of the things she would always talk about when I was growing up was coping skills.  She felt it was important to be as good as possible at handling adversity.  How well you coped with adversity would determine how quickly you could get back on track.  As we all know, in growing your small business, as in life, there can be a great deal of adversity that can knock you off course. 

Right now I am off course.  Don’t ask me about my marketing business plan or my performance strategy for success.  At the moment, I could care less.  Yet, because I have coping skills, learned from my mother, I do have a personal marketing business plan and a personal performance strategy for success. 

My marketing business plan is to take care of me.  I must let all this wash over me.  One of the things she taught me is to not ignore your feelings.  If you don’t deal with them and acknowledge them now they will show up later and can cause greater harm.  A stifled emotion is like a beach ball that you try to hold under water.  It takes a lot of energy.  And, eventually the beach ball springs to the top with great force.  When our emotions do that it can be destructive. 

My marketing business plan is to take care of me.  And, my performance strategy for success is to take care of myself by not plowing into more work.  In the long run I will accomplish less if I dive into work.  I will accomplish less because of all that energy I will be using to stifle the beach ball, my feelings, and keep them underwater will actually cause me to accomplish less and be less ready for opportunity at work. 

If you are facing challenges with small business growth or in running your business take a look at the beach balls you may be trying to keep under water.  I promise you they are holding you back because they drain you of energy and focus. 

Develop a healthy coping strategy by facing them and doing something about them.  You won’t believe how free you will feel and how much energy you will create.  Since my mother is no longer with us you can’t ask her.  But, if she were here that is what she would tell you. 

Develop your coping skills.  Get rid of your beach balls.  Eliminate or minimize your tolerations.  When you do you will more quickly get back on the road to business success.

In the three previous posts we have looked at three other challenges you face in starting your own business in a bad economy.  In fact, they are challenges you would face even if the economy were good.  They assume even greater importance when things are not as good and your margin for error is smaller. 

The three earlier challenges were:

1.  Do you have a market for the product or service you wish to provide?

2.  Is the market you wish to pursue vulnerable to economic cycles?

3.  What type of business should you get into during an economic downturn?

The last challenge is:  What should you stay away from?  This may ruffle some feathers. 

The first type of business that I would be very careful about is multi-level.  Most of them provide great products or services.  But, are the products or services necessary?  Will the products or services save the customer money?  If your answer is yes to these questions then I would pursue it further. 

Multi-level is easy entry and it takes hard work.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Just remember that getting rich overnight or well off quickly happens to a very small percentage of those involved in multi-level.  If you have a good network of people who would be receptive to you, your product or service then you have the right things going for you that could move you forward more quickly. 

During a bad economy the second thing about multi-level, or any business for that matter, is whether or not you have to create a market.  For example, if your product has to do with weight loss you are in a good area.  This is an accepted market.  You are not having to create anything new.  People are already spending money in this market.  And, weight loss ties directly to people’s health, sense of well-being and their image. 

In summary, stay away from businesses that have you creating a market or doing a lot of pioneering.  Pioneering is necessary for any new product to get established but pioneering by its very nature has lots of casualties. 

In looking at businesses to stay away from I would avoid anything that promises you overnight success.  Yes, overnight success can happen.  But, the odds are less than one in a thousand.  And, even if you read a long string of testimonials about the success of the business remember that, more often than not, thousands failed and lost their investment for the very few that succeeded. 

A successful performance strategy is to look at these businesses very closely and skeptically.  Small business growth is about having a good marketing business plan.  The marketing business plan may look good but is it really executable?  Growing your small business will be about being able to execute a workable marketing business plan. 

Obviously, there are many more questions and answers about starting a business in a bad economy.  The goal of these blog posts was to give you some things to think about from a different perspective.  My wish for all of you is to have the best in business and life.

In the previous two posts I have discussed two important challenges to starting a business, whether it be in a bad economy or a good one.  A successful performance strategy involves two things.  First, you must determine if you truly have a market for your product or service. 

Secondly, you must know how susceptible your market is to fluctuations in economic cycles.  Think about it.  Eight months ago most businesses were riding high.  Things have changed quickly and not for the better.  Is what you are thinking of getting into subject to wild fluctuations? 

This may seem obvious.  Life and business is the study of the obvious.  And, too often people overlook the obvious in their enthusiasm or pursuit of the next thing that is going to bring them new wealth and a new life.  Small business growth and having a successful marketing business plan is about being a master of the obvious.

Remember, history doesn’t repeat itself.  Only those who fail to study history repeat its mistakes.  Be a good student of history. 

The third challenge to starting your business in a bad economy is to ask:  What business should I get into during an economic downturn?  You may be saying at this point—this must be obvious.  I have answered the first two challenges.  I have a market for my service and it is one that has promise during an economic downturn. 

What business should you get into?  You have the market.  You can market to it.  But is the business you want to get into honoring “who you are?”  This is the one element that is most often overlooked and the one that leads to failure and burnout.  Growing small business is not an accident.  Small business growth is a function of good design.

Think about it.  You have a market for your product or service.  And, it is a good market.  Yet, the skills and disciplines you must employ to be successful are not part of, or a developed part of your skill set.  In the pursuit of the dollar, I have watched more people end up in a wreck because they did not get into a business that honors who they are. 

Here’s an example.  A man I know opened a one-man auto repair shop nearby.  His knowledge and ability to repair cars was extraordinary.  His business grew.  Unfortunately, his people skills didn’t.  He had always been a great technician but had not developed great people skills.  In the beginning when his business was small he didn’t feel as pressured. 

As it grew he had to spend more time with people and as a result he was repairing cars late into the night.  You may say, the obvious solutiion is to hire someone.  But, when you are challenged in your people skills and have the attitude that no one can do the job as well as you are you likely to hire someone?  No. 

The result was that after two years he was out of business and back working for another repair shop.  The worst part was that he was broken by his failure.  The good news is that he realizes his attitude about people undid him and now he is attempting to do something about it. 

Whatever business you start be sure that a lot of that business honors who you are.  Yes, there are certain skills you can learn.  But, there are ones that even if you learn them you would be better off delegating those tasks to someone else. 

Look beyond the startup phase and envision what you want your business and life to look like.  If you truly don’t see that picture being accomplished you may be better off looking into another type of business.

In the previous post we looked at the first challenge of what type of business to start in a bad economy.  The first challenge was to determine if you have a market with some depth for your product or service. 

Challenge #2 is about how vulnerable the market, you wish to pursue, is to economic cycles.  Most products and services can and will be affected by economic cycles.  The key is how large are the fluctuations will be. 

Of course, that is hard to know.  But, I would suggest that you research some history of how your market fared during previous economic downturns.  If your product or service falls more into the category of a “want” rather than a “need” then the probability of failure is increased. 

But, that is not always the case.  Let’s look at the leisure or recreational industry.  You may say, and correctly so, that leisure or recreational activities fall in the “want” area.  Yet, people still are going to do something to enjoy themselves.  Very often they will possibly go to more movies instead of concerts because of the expense.  Or, travel may be limited to seeing things in their immediate area as opposed to a large or expensive trip.

The goal is to find a market that will still be needed during a downturn.  Basic services such as cleaning, caretaking of others and bookkeeping are examples of services that should see a reduced negative impact during a downturn.

When starting up your own business, especially in a bad economy, you will move ahead much more quickly if the down cycles are shallow.   A successful performance strategy demands this.  And, to have more consistent small business growth it is critical that you know as much as you can about your market. 

Growing small business is not just about having a great marketing plan.  It is about having a product or service that is needed or will be in demand even when economic times aren’t good.

In the previous post we looked at four challenges or questions that must be answered to starting your own business during an economic downturn. 

Today we’ll take a look at Challenge #1: 

Do you have a market for the product or service you wish to provide?

You may be saying that answering this sounds pretty simple.  In many cases it is.  One of the major considerations in starting a business should be where is your business going to come from?  To whom are you going to market your product or service?  Are they ready to receive your product or service?

Very often I have watched people who work for a larger company and develop relationships with that company’s clients.  In fact they may have had conversations with the client about going out on their own and that when they do, the client will come with them.

There are a couple of problems with this scenario.  Studies have shown that for every 10 clients that will tell you that they are going to switch that only 2 do.  Secondly, in today’s litigious world, depending on the stipulations of your employment, you may be subject to a lawsuit. 

Even if you are totally in the right, a lawsuit, because of the time and expense it requires, may very likely sink you.  I have watched companies sue former employees in an effort to kill their business by tying up a major amount of time and resources. 

A better performance strategy for success and to grow your small business is to stay away from any legal problems. 

The second point to consider in whether or not you have a market that is good for your product or service is to study the obvious.  Too often, what may appear to be obvious to you may be full of problems. 

Too often it is easy to fake yourself out by thinking that your passion and enthusiasm for a product or service will make you successful.  Passion and enthusiasm are important ingredients in the success process.  But, they are not a guaranty. 

Look beyond your passion and enthusiasm for your market and be as realistic as possible.  Be realistic as to whether or not this market is a good market.  Be objective.  Once you have determined that the market is good, then you can let your enthusiasm and passion loose to create the business and life you desire.

With the current economic downturn there are challenges and there always opportunities.  The biggest challenge when one is displaced or loses his or her job is:  What am I going to do? 

It is a question I hear a great deal.  Very often, the answer to the challenge is to start your own business. 

You can read a mountain of information that will tell you about starting your own business.  And, that is good.  Yet, regardless of how much you read and learn starting your own business and running your own business present their own unique challenges. 

Today’s post is about giving you a framework in which to think about the question of what type of business to start during an economic downturn.  In subsequent posts I will provide some answers to the questions.

Challenge #1—Do you have a market for the product or service you wish to provide? 

Challenge #2—Is the market you wish to pursue vulnerable to economic cycles? 

Challenge #3—What should you get into when in an economic downturn? 

Challenge #4—What should I stay away from?

Obviously, there are many answers to what business should you start during bad economic times.  The most important thing now is to ask the above questions and come up with your answers.  There are no right or wrong answers.   The only wrong thing to do is to not think about these questions. 

To change your life you must change your thinking.  Coming up with answers will help change your thinking.  In the next post I will give you some possible answers to help guide you.