The right focus
Most importantly focus on the controllables, not the uncontrollables. We all know we are in challenging times.
So here are the two choices; you sit on our hands and stew in a pool of self pity, or take action which at minimum will set you up for when the market turns, or maybe just maybe, take advantage of any existing opportunities in the marketplace.

Get creative:

More than ever you need to leverage the creative resources that are at your fingertips to gain competitive edge in the marketplace.

Where are these resources?
1. Your employees. In a modern company, each employee should have to contribute one idea a month on how things can be improved or any other ideas that cross their consciousness. Remember they are your front line staff and are likely to have better and more relevant ideas than you could imagine.
2. Local rentacrowd. With a minimum of fuzz, I believe that in each area a creative rentacrowd could be assembled – this could be used as a resource for existing companies and also with the right facilitation, as a means of generating sustainable ideas for the community. The panel could be drawn from a cross section of the local population.
3. If you really want to tap into that creative spark, visit your local high school or secondary school and brainstorm existing and potential ideas. You will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Remember the older we get, the more we suppress our creative juices – Beth and Land’s highlighted that fact in their landmark study so tap into some childish wisdom!

Develop website presence:

Probably an even bigger catastrophe is coming down the line for small businesses who haven’t embraced the new means of communication – what? Generation Y’s populating the market. This generation has been brought up on google and first step in all research/buying projects is turn on the computer! If small businesses don’t move from having a website to developing a presence through SEO, Social Networking etc, they will be out of business.

“Exceptionalise” your service.

The fact is that most people are better off at the moment due to lower cost of living etc – however these people have chose to save, not spend their hard earned income. Your goal must be to provide them with something they just cannot refuse. In this context, I believe you should work to exceptionalise your service. Mirroring past research done in Columbia University where it showed that 88% of Breakthrough companies were the result of exceptional execution of an ordinary idea, not new innovations; companies should break down their service into all the contact points with the customer. Then proceed to set standards for each – finally aim to go beyond the normal standards to provide exceptional service.

Finally times like this are a great time for self reflection – a review of your motivations for being in business. Interestingly Stanford Business School Advisory Committee highlighted self awareness as the most important quality that any leader should develop. The more you journey towards self awareness, the more you will start to realise that you have what it takes to transcend the current circumstances, and find progress in pain. Seize the journey.