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I Absolutely Refuse to Participate in a Recession
Many economic gurus are speaking the "R" word—recession.
According to them, various economic indicators seem to show that it's on its way, if not here already. It has been about ten years since our last recession in the United States. For the most part, the U.S. economy has been strong and business has been good for the last decade. However, the fact is the economy goes through cycles and even if we don't see a full-blown recession—business is slowing for many people. Unfortunately, every time it takes a downturn, the fallout is felt strongly by salespeople, business owners, and professionals alike. According to the American Entrepreneurs Association (AEA), over 50 percent of all businesses go out of business within two years of opening their doors. This number is known to increase dramatically during a recession. Successful business professionals learn from the past. In the early 90's, right in the middle of a nasty recession, I was at a business mixer in Connecticut where I was meeting many local business professionals. It seemed that everyone was feeling the crunch from the slow economy. Throughout the entire event, the favorite topic of discussion was how bad the economy was and how things were getting worse. The whole affair was depressing, because nearly everyone was obsessed with the problems of the economy and its impact on their businesses. I was introduced to one of the many real estate agents attending. Given the decrease in property values in the state, I was leery of asking this gentleman the standard "How's business?" question. I didn't want to hear yet another variation of how bad business was. He shared with me, though, that he was having a great year. Naturally, I was surprised and asked, "You did say you were in real estate, didn't you?" "Yes." "We are in Connecticut, aren't we?" "Yes," he said with a slight grin. "And you're having a good year?" I asked. "I'm actually having my best year ever!" he said. "Your best year!" I said in amazement. After thinking for a moment I asked him, "Is this your first year in real estate?" "No," he replied with a laugh, "I've been in real estate for almost ten years." I asked him how he was doing so well, given the conditions of the economy and the stiff competition. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue and white badge:
"That's your secret?" I asked. "You refuse to participate in the recession, so business is booming?" "That's correct. While most of my competitors are crying the blues about how bad business is, I'm out drumming up a ton of business through word of mouth." Considering what he said, I looked around the room and listened in on people for a while as they were complaining about how bad business was. While nearly all were commiserating with one another, I concluded that very few were actually networking and working on seeking new business. As a result, very little business was actually being accomplished. If you want to do well in business, you must understand that it does absolutely no good to complain to people about tough times. When you complain about how bad business is—half the people you tell don't care and the other half are glad that you're worse off than they are. While you cannot control the economy or your competition, you CAN control your response to the economy. During the last recession, I watched thousands of business people successfully refuse to participate in the recession. They were BNI members, and they did things that you can do today, such as:
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