Go ahead looking for opportunities or do we have to wait for the crisis to happen?

A few days ago I was talking with a small businessman from the town where I live about things, about the world, about people, about work and, as is very normal in these times, we talk about the economic crisis. But not the crisis as such, but the fact that it had become a ‘commonplace’, the conversation that is on everyone’s lips. Funny, right?

Trying to get away from the subject a bit and give it a positive spin (I always try to see things from the positive side) and seeing that he told me about how slow the business was, how little people were buying it, the need for a change, I began to talk about things that could be done, to contact their customers by email and send them offers, to make promotions with the products of the store, to make discounts on things that sell little, in order , I started to propose options.

My surprise was seeing, as from that moment, I rained a number of reasons why you could not do anything, that the business of the other corner give you more facilities, that the town is very small, that you should have the double of people, that people do not have money, that we have to wait for the crisis to pass, etc. In one word: Excuses!

But I was struck by the phrase: ‘We must wait for the crisis to pass’.

It is clear that we are going through a historical economic crisis, that there are many people unemployed, that the environment is not very promising, at least in the short term and many other things. In that we are all clear, and if we are not clear, just watch any program on TV to clarify a bit. But still, ‘we must wait for the crisis to pass. ‘

And this is where I want to stop with you: ‘We must wait for the crisis to pass’ . It booms in my ears. If they tell us, for example, that with certainty, 100% verified, the crisis ends on March 15, 2012. What do we do? Well it seems that the obvious thing is to wait for that day to come to start doing things. That is to say, it is from that date when we have to start planning our future marketing actions, our strategies, the changes that are necessary to continue forward, everything … but as of that date, neither before nor after.

And what do we do while that day arrives? Wait and endure. Close your eyes and contemplate the ‘rain running down the roof’. The strongest will arrive and the one that will not, will not arrive.

But seeing it better, and if we know that the crisis ends on March 15, 2012, are not these the best months to plan things? To gather information about the things we can do? optimism, knowing that finally the crisis will end that day, as if by magic? Is not that the logical thing?

And have you asked yourself: what happens if the crisis ends tomorrow? Or next week? What happens if it ends in 10 years? What happens if the crisis ended last week and you do not? had you noticed? What are you doing?

I believe, from the heart, that we have to adapt to the environment we live in, we must recognize that times are what they are, they are as they are, and that is there. Whether the crisis passes or does not happen is not in your hands, nor in mine.

As an entrepreneur, and as an individual, you have to convince yourself that the only thing you can do to ‘get out of the crisis’ is to keep going, to strive every day more to look for new opportunities for your business, to be creative, proactive, not to be overwhelmed. for the negativism that is shown in thousands of excuses to sit back and do nothing.

You have to keep your eyes open, keep your vision of the business in the long and medium term, plan the things you can do now, in the coming days, and what you will do when things improve. The show continues, equally you must continue with it.

Even with the crisis that exists, there are businesses that are moving forward, little by little. Is yours one of those businesses ?, or are you overwhelmed by the crisis and negativism that surrounds us ?, What will you do if you realize that the crisis ended last week and you had not heard?

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