Many of you know that I am an avid quilter, so when Mark Lipinski’s new issue of Quilter’s Home came out, I quickly snapped up a copy. I enjoy Mark’s light-hearted, a little-in-your-face style and always learn something new. What more could you want from a magazine? (This one had a little scandal, too, as the woman in Borders told me as I bought my magazine; it’s why it was in a plastic bag!)
One of the articles was “How this recession can lead to your creative boom!” I thought it was great and this blog is a bit of a take-off on that article with apologies to Mark.
Old Products, Anyone?
Now is a great time to dig up your old, outdated products. The world has changed. The R word is everywhere…right next to people talking about Twitter, Facebook and the resurrected Linked-In. Do your e-books, articles and info-products have this up-to-date information? Dig up your old stuff, re-write, give it a face-lift and a new cover and re-sell it! In the writing world we call this “re-purposing.” In fact, I felt very often that I was writing the same article over and over again when I was in the database world. I just changed the names as the technology changed, but the underlying information stayed pretty much the same. In fact, I recently dug out that article and re-wrote it for small business owners — same information, new names!
Shop Your Closet
Time to really do a spring clean. Find all the pens you’ve got scattered around and it’s like going to the office supplies store! Ditto your kid’s leftover paper from grade school and all those paper clips. What do you have that you can use right now? And, you can even feel virtuous — you’re recycling!
Shop Your Friends’ Closets
Get everyone together with all the office supplies you don’t need. Trade them around and have some fun doing it. Make it a time to trade ideas, resources like your favorite bookkeeper and, heck, even recipes with low-cost ingredients!
Re-tool your talents
What’s your core skill? What do you do well? If you are a life coach, you are probably fairly good at making sense out of difficult situations. You might even have a talent at facilitating. If business is slow, think about what else you could do to bring money into the business. Try www.guru.com and www.elance.com .
Think small
Years ago there was a Wall Street guru who believed in small buy and sell movements, rather than buy and hold. Now, most of us don’t believe anything that comes from Wall Street these days, but there is some merit here, so bear with me. Are there small projects that you can do repetitively? Open-ended projects are pretty scary to many people right now. So are retainers. Try offering the same work for an hourly rate or for a pre-determined time. Even if you know that the person could save money with a retainer, you may convert the sale with an hourly rate more easily.
Embrace the difficult
Have you been meaning to write a book? Create a difficult info-product? Tackle an all-day workshop or try a webinar? Now’s the time to do it! Stretch yourself. With work slow, you probably have the time. There’s an added bonus. By focusing on what’s possible, you will lift your spirits. Happy people always do better business wise than people who are caught up in the dark haze of gloom.
Do a “clean sweep”
Clean your office. Your home. Your mind. Sell books on Amazon that you no longer read. Get an e-bay account. Or have an old-fashioned tag sale. Then treat you and your loved ones to a nice dinner at your favorite restaurant. Now, doesn’t that feel good?
Become a super-shopper
Learn to negotiate for services. Call your credit card companies and ask to have your rates reduced. Asked them what you need to do to get them lowered — you may be surprised at the answer. House value gone down? Check with your county assessor to get your taxes lowered. Question everything you buy. Be careful that you don’t buy cheap just to get the lowest price. It’s often better to pay a little more for quality and something that will last a little longer. Use the Internet and social networking groups you are in to check out other’s experiences with the latest class or marketing scheme you are considering.
(Consider the Wise Woman Circle, where you can get business coaching from a master coach for under $20 a month — now that’s a bargain!)
Get some perspective
No, Virginia, the recession won’t last forever. If you do the things you need to do now to make your business the best it can be, you will come roaring out when the time comes!
This is so spot on. I love these ideas and will give some a try. I am willing to change things around, why wait for something “good” to happen, let’s make it happen!