How to Keep Your Business Successful in Hard Economic Times

The economy is the hot topic these days and for good reason. Every day you open the paper the stock market has either plummeted or rocketed toward the sky. These are trying times for everyone and small business owners may take the largest brunt of this economic down-turn. Let's look at some of the reasons a business can either falter or flourish; the biggest in my mind is the people who work in these small businesses, next would come the attitude of the people who work in these small businesses and finally the advantages or disadvantages to working for your small business. Let's dive into these simple but important issues and see what happens.

First, the people, the people, the people! Need I say more? The people you have working for your small business are the most important thing you have going for you (or against you). A commonly used phrase that I love goes like this "your largest assets walk out the door at 5:00 every night". These "bad times" have a knack of making workers really nervous about keeping their jobs. When employees are nervous about losing their jobs they tend to not perform those jobs nearly as well. You have to remember this and let your "real assets" know that there is nothing to worry about. If you start threatening with lay-offs your will lose productivity like you wouldn't believe. Take this into consideration as well, if you have a couple or a few employees who are very well respected in their industry and they start repeating your threats, you will see a lack of confidence in your customers as well. You have to be real careful when skirting around this issue. Bottom line is that if you have good people don't lose them because when the economy comes back around and the industry you depend on is thriving you will be stuck in the mud wondering where all the good talent went.

Along with the people you have comes the attitude those people carry with them. Listen carefully, this starts with the owner and the management! If you find your people starting to have a negative attitude you need to look at yourself as a manager or owner. If you once had a happy productive team and all of a sudden they seem grumpy, unproductive and down, take a look in the mirror because this issue probably lies on your shoulders. Now I don't want to get down on all you owners and managers out there, you may just have a bad egg and these are the people you need to get rid of. If you have these people that create a negative atmosphere just because they can, you need to show them the door and remind the rest of your team that the negative attitude won't be tolerated. Usually once this individual is out of the mix your problem is over and the re-birth should begin. Just make darn sure that this one individual is the problem because if he or she is not you could be in a world of hurt. If you jump to conclusions and blame one person you may see other great individuals pack up and leave as well, this is what you don't want so be certain if this is the path you are going to take.

Next goes hand-in-hand with the previous two. If you don't have any advantages to working for you, well the obvious will happen. You won't have any good talent even though you are saving money on not matching the 401K anymore. Listen, taking away benefits for employees is one of the worst things you can possibly do. Yes, we all understand that cuts are necessary but cutting benefits should be your last resort before calling your bankruptcy lawyer. Instead of punishing everyone, get rid of individuals who are not pulling their weight. Trust me, you will want these people when the economy comes back around, if all you have are the bottom feeders, that is what your company will become when the huge economic comeback hits. Bad idea, don't do it or you will pay. To those owners and managers out there that need a real quick fix, try dropping a zero from your yearly salary, it's amazing how much that can help.

As you can see the people are the biggest reasons for a successful business. Now I'm not claiming to be an expert on this matter I just have been through this type of situation before and I've seen business really succeed and really fail. The key to both scenarios is the people and how they are treated. Don't skimp on your best performers and make them feel confident in what is going on. Try being honest, people do understand when things have to change and usually if you do it respectfully and honestly they will completely understand. Business is not easy and these tough times don't help any but you can make it easier on yourself by using some common sense and leaving those who are smarter than you on your side.