What to do in recessionary times

The first time I was introduced to the writings of Tom Peters was during my University days. We had his book ‘In Search of Excellence, co-authored with Waterman, on the compulsory reading list.

In amongst the other dry management and strategy books, this book was a breath of fresh air. This was after all the mid 80’s and when I think of the rest of the prescribed books, I shudder.

Since then I have followed Tom Peters’ further writings buying several of his later books.  I’ve never been disappointed either. Each one has been great and has often pinpointed a trend or analysis way ahead of its time.

His site is listed as one of the top marketing sites by Advertising Age, so I visited it to see what he was up to and how he was using the internet. I was not disappointed. His approach to this media is great and the content is worth reading.

In particular I liked the one where he answers the many queries he gets about how to cope in a recession. And does he only make sense.

However, there was one idea that struck me while reading through his list. The whole list really described the emotions and stresses that an entrepreneur goes through. It’s the kind of life you face when starting a new business.

Here are some of the points he makes. In recessionary times you need to work longer and harder. You will probably work for less money and you have to volunteer more. You should always bring a good attitude to work. And if you don’t feel like it, fake it.

You shrug off shit and get a shovel to to get rid of it. You get there earlier, you leave later. You forget about the good old days and you tell yourself that it will get  better. You cut down on overspending, you learn new tricks, you network like crazy.

You get even closer to your customers. You become humble again. You are kind to everybody. And you can’t blame anybody for the problems you are facing. And loads more.

Quite frankly, as much as I totally agree with his list, it really boils down to the kind of thing new business people have to do when they open the doors of their brand new business.

That’s how it works.

With other words, working your business in recessionary times means you get back to basics. Totally. Fully. Revisit those times when you worked yourself to a standstill, hardly took any money out of the business and totally understood where your customer was at.

Which could mean that those businesses doing the basics right, and who have always done so, might just have a chance to survive this recession. There certainly have been companies that have posted quite good results all things considered. Sainsbury’s is one of those in the UK, Apple in the US and Volkswagen in Germany.  Doing the basics right.

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