STEVE FORBES
The key thing they gotta keep their minds on is that even though you have these crazy what they call “macro conditions,” there are always opportunities lurking out there. What kind of marketing can you do? What kind of... getting the credit that you might not normally have gotten otherwise, like borrowing on an insurance policy if you think you’ve got a good expansion plan. Other competitors may be under stress, and not able to grow the way you might grow. So... you, instead of just wringing your hands, you ?gure out “OK, this is going to change the landscape. How can I take advantage of those changes?” And the ones who can put themselves through that discipline of ?guring out “what is my business, what are the pressures on the business, what’s happening to my competitors, how can I take an advantage of it if I am able to make an expansion or bring out a new product or a better product and they can’t, maybe I can do it.” Then you have opportunities.
And the other thing is too, even though you have a tough environment you can start to incubate a new business. If you’re a small business owner, and you’ve had experience in one business, and you decide “I want to try something else” you can still do it. And… even... I’ll give you big examples; 1970s, terrible decade, worse... more and more in?ation, malaise, higher unemployment than we have today, and look what was incubating: Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks and others that are big names today, teeny then, and when you got a good environment, which eventually we will, they are ready to blossom. So, don’t be worried about being small today. If you really want to grow, make sure you’re in a position when the sun comes out. You’re going to burst and bloom.