“The Only Thing Certain is Uncertainty”

This is a line from a popular country western song that I immediately claimed as my own.

It seems this one fellow was listening to a friend who was complaining about his personal challenges in life, somehow believing his burdens were unique.
The first person, not really consoling his friend, tells him to suck it up. That what he has been experiencing is merely life’s challenges.

While I’m not suggesting that small business ignore the challenges of the current recession, we need to accept the reality that recessions, which occur at five to eight year intervals, are very much a part of our landscape. They represent a form of natural selection which tests our wisdom, judgment, passion, skills and decisions.
In a sense recessions compress 10 years of business activity into a relatively short span of only 12 to 18 months leaving you feeling overwhelmed.

Recessions test major business sectors and their business models. Who would have guessed only a few short years ago the failure of General Motors and Chrysler? But when you refuse to produce vehicle models that Americans want to purchase, the die has been cast. Neither manufacture had an automobile in the top 10 models purchased under the “Clunkers” program. Ford had two and foreign car manufacturers eight.
Incidentally, the top 10 clunkers were all American.
Successful business people understand that success is a journey and not a one-time event.

Success in business results from the collective decisions we make each and every day and at an accelerated rate during recessionary periods.

But as challenging as recessions are, they also contain silver linings for astute entrepreneurs who position themselves for the inevitable new opportunities which will emerge.

Leaner, more agile business models that are not tethered to costly infrastructure will likely dominate the business landscape in many sectors in the future.

The key to unlocking this potential for an even brighter future for your small business is to accept change as an opportunity.

Try to anticipate change. With experience comes wisdom and often the ability to discern change. I’m not suggesting that you search for challenges which may not exist, but that you not ignore the obvious, which has devastated numerous U.S. corporate icons.

Remember that naiveté is not a marketable business skill.
Make the decision and the commitment to emerge a winner and remember that “The Only Thing Certain is Uncertainty.”