Congratulations, you survived.
Recession is typically the best time to retool your business but as we are hopefully approaching the bottom, you need to plan for an economic recovery. I think it’s time to start planning. It does not mean that the dark days are behind us, but we need to start planning for the good times ahead. Transitioning out of a recession is more of an art than a science.
Employees and subcontractors who were desperate for any kind job a few month ago, may now start looking for better alternatives. Recessions is typically the time when a lot of unemployed professionals, having lost their silver handcuffs, are starting small businesses. Marketing done on small guerilla budgets during the recession may have worked great but as your competitor’s revenues increase, their marketing budgets quite often proportionally rise too. You should be asking yourself “What will my clients need when their customers start spending again? As of the time when I am writing this blog, consumer spending is still quite low, and most of the increased revenues come from cost-cutting, but sooner or later the consumers and businesses will start spending again. You appreciated inexpensive pure social media marketing and organic SEO campaigns when times were tough, but when the market picks up, you need to be out there, and you need to get there quickly.
The art of coming out of recession is switching gears to start thinking about growth after a long period of cost-cutting. Start to plan now for investments you want to make. It may be time to move on some of the technology purchases you’ve been putting off.
In fact, mind-set may be the biggest challenge that we need to face. You got through the toughest economic crisis in the past 75 years. Now it’s time to dust off those ambitions you had before the markets ground to a halt. Give yourself the freedom to think big.
