The Sky Is Not Falling!

“The sky is falling,” Chicken Little said to anyone who would listen. For those not familiar with this fable (this is not the Disney version), Chicken Little came to this conclusion when an acorn fell on her head. She then went and told this to anyone who would listen. Her friends all joined in this refrain until they came upon Foxy Loxy who agreed to help them. The animals were so scared of the impending doom that they let down their guard and followed Foxy Loxy, who said she was leading them to help. Chicken Little and her friends were never seen again.

To listen to some small business owners, you would think the sky is falling. High oil prices, commodity prices and the credit crises are a series of issues that are like the acorns that bonked Chicken Little on the noggin. These are real issues and they should concern small business owners. Still, “the economy” is the proverbial sky that is falling and entrepreneurs would be the wiser if they paid less attention to the gloom and doom hype in the media and more attention to the market conditions relating to their particular businesses. Too many small business owners who bemoan the economy are not paying enough attention to their economies.

On a macroeconomics level, the economy may be taking some hits. I am not an economic expert, so I am not going to define or analyze recession indicators, stock market trends or Federal Reserve issues. Instead, I am going to use the basics that I learned at Rutgers University in my freshman year Microeconomics class (see Dad, I did put my education to use!). By definition, the noun economy refers to “the system of production, distribution and consumption.” Every business has a unique economy. Each has its own system of producing products/services, means of distributing their products/services and customers who utilize their products/services.

Maybe on a macro level, trends are showing that we are producing less, distribution costs are higher and consumer spending is down. But is that really the case for your business? What have you done to analyze your production capacities, supply costs, your operating expenses and your pricing strategies? Has your business really seen a decline in customers over the past few months and have your really expended all options in identifying new customers?

I think of Steven Covey's bestseller, The Seven Habit of Highly Effective People and his discussion of two concentric circles. The outer circle is the “circle of concern” and the inner circle is the “circle of influence.” His sage advice is to urge people to live within their circle of influence.

Gather data on trends that are happening to your economy and come up with a game plan to best prepare your business for the future. Think on a micro level and start with the basics. What products/services can you bring to the marketplace? Can you expand your areas of distribution? What does the marketplace need that you can provide?

In other words, stop worrying about the sky falling; you can’t do anything about that. Instead, focus the problems you can solve. So an acorn fell and knocked your head. Put some ice on the bump, plant that acorn and start an oak tree nursery (by the way, I also studied Landscape Plants at Rutgers…oak trees are genus, Quercus, but I digress).

I found this article by Mindy Charski to be particularly on the money:

Starting a Small Business in a Bad Economy

I like the closing quote attributed to Rufus Frost, "There is business out there; it's just who's going to get it, really." You can either spend your time worrying about what’s not there anymore or you can spend your time getting some of what is there. I dare to say the latter is the only option.