Will a slowing economy hurt my business?

Assume that it might. By assuming that it might hurt your business you’ll do things differently, spend differently and pay attention differently. Start out by looking at all your expenses.

• How many of them are absolutely necessary and bring you a return? Make sure the expense is something you need, something that helps you do more business.

• Can you reduce expenses in any area? Do you really need all those post-its or could you get by with stapling a note to something? Every little bit helps and as you start to look around for ways to save, you’ll find them!

• Can you put off buying any new equipment? If you’ve got an old printer that works fine, keep it. If your computer still works well, than there’s no reason to get a new one just because your current one is a couple years old. Save the money clean up the old computer, eliminate old programs and defrag if you haven’t done it in a long time.

• If your business has slowed down you may have to look at reducing staff. This is the one that nobody likes to think about but if your business is down and you can’t seem to raise it back up, something’s gotta give. Keeping a person too long when you can’t justify the expense can end up costing you more than your piece of mind and your pride, it might cost you your business.

By taking a closer look at your business “in case” it is affected by the economy, your proactiveness might minimize the effects of a business slow down. We know the economy goes through cycles and if you are prepared for a bit of slowdown, all the things you are doing now to reduce expenses and make your company more efficient will compound your success when the economy bounces back. Make it happen!

© 2008 eMarketing 4 Business LLC