Question #31: A recession is coming. What should I do?

Great question. A recession is indeed coming and this is an opportunity.

My recommendation is three-fold:

Part One: List the BASIC financial priorities for your business. What is absolutely essential for you to deliver products and services? If you are an online business, you need your website, a payment processor, products (of course) and not much else. If your business is consultative, you need a website, Zoom and basic software subscriptions. BASIC. You get the idea. Write the list and make sure that every item on the list is essential for selling or delivering your product. Essential.

Part Two: take the list and compare it to what you are spending money on right now. If it is not on the list as essential, get rid of it, cancel, unsubscribe, whatever it takes. The goal is reduce your costs to the essential and get some cash back into your pocket.

Part Three: for those items that you deem as essential, go to the provider and ask for a discount for paying for a year up front. Many of them will gladly give you a discount for monies they can get up front.

Finally, make a new marketing plan. Think about how can you reach customers without expensive ads and social media marketing. Update your email list. Create content that is valuable. Reach out to past customers, thank them for their past business. Offer a discount if they re-purchase. NOW is the time to think about what you can do.

Glad to help with even more ideas.