Nailed It!

First quarter review – yikes, are you kidding! It’s two weeks short of ending first quarter. It wasn’t too long ago that I was figuring out how to navigate the rocky shoals of this whole year.

Did the ground hog, or was it Adam Smith just see his shadow? Where do we look today for credible economic information – what can or should we expect? The consensus by those in the know or in the “should know”, including your local banker project slow recovery. Probably no discernable change to most of us until late this year or as late as 4th quarter 2010. It’s as your instincts suspected, a continuance of business “not as usual”.

We all need to review our business model even after we adjusted it late last year, and see if it still applies to this market. Shortly, you will have a three month history to weigh and analyze your situation – expenses, revenues, margins, etc. Chose a strategy that is realistic and tough. It’s always a nice problem to deal with increased production and hiring, but we should wait to see the “whites of their eyes” for the up tick in our business before we slip on those rose colored glasses. Continue Reading »

Happy New Year!

Time to take a breather from the business and redirect our attention to themore important things in life like enjoying the holidays with family and friends. Your customers are also taking a well deserved break unless they are in retail frantically trying to liquidate inventory and maybe make a few dollars.

During this hiatus you can actually do some healthy, productive things for you and your business:

First, enjoy yourself! The business will be okay for a few days without you worrying about it-you can’t compete with Christmas and the Holidays. Do whatever sets you free mentally and physically-running, walking, movies, shopping, skiing, surfing, bowl games, basketball…lots to do. Need to recharge your batteries, outlook and attitude.

If you do go to the office, there are some productive activities that can help you in the New Year. The New Year brings hope but let’s not forget valuable information from this year and even last year.

Without the phone ringing, look back over last two years to see who you sold the first quarter. It’s easier to follow up with old accounts and check for reorders than make cold calls. Continue Reading »