As a part-time business consultant, I hear many small businesses complaining about the recession. They relate to me how hard it’s been. They realize that the recession is now ending, and things are looking forward as consumers and customers start to inquire again about their goods and services. Still, they are having trouble marketing, getting new customers to come to their store, getting old customers to come back, and getting commercial credit so they can expand their businesses.
Nevertheless, I hold short of allowing small business owners to tell me how tough it is. Let me explain. You see, before retirement I’d been through many business cycles and recessions. And I made it through each and every one of them through perseverance and hard work. That’s really no secret, and therefore if I did it, so can they. All they have to do is start acting as they did when they first started their company.
Every small business owner has to start from somewhere, and they have to develop customers. They have to give great customer service, ask for referrals, and work very hard in their marketing to get things going. It’s amazing that how many of these small business owners are sitting back and waiting for the economy to return without going out and getting tough the market place. You can’t wait for everything to come to you; you have to go to it.
You must also put forth significant effort, and you need to start now. Therefore, it’s time to stop complaining, get busy, and get it done. Most small business owners forget that when they first started they would go for hours before someone would walk into the store to perhaps buy something, or merely to look around and then walk out without purchasing. Now that the same thing is occurring, they forget about those good old days, and those hard times and instead they want to complain.
They want everything to magically reappear as if it was the day just before the stock market crash, or before the economy turned south. Trust me, it doesn’t happen that way. My advice to most small businesses is to stop complaining, because no one cares, and no one will listen. If you want to succeed you have to get tough now. Remember that quote; “when it gets tough, the tough get going.” Well, what are you waiting for?
