Anti-Squash Business Survival Tips

March 17, 2008

Business Survival
Image by Brian Snelson

I heard on the radio this morning that almost everyone is rushing to buy oil, gold and copper. This is nothing unusual and the outcome is fairly predictable. When everyone is rushing into something, it’s usually a smart move to walk in opposite direction - no need to rush, as few people will follow you. Of course, there’s always a few exceptions to this rule - eg: You should still cross the street when the green man flashes, like everyone else, or you’re liable to get squashed.

Don’t Follow The Crowd In A Recession

Doing the opposite to what everyone else is doing applies in business too. Ian Denny has written a great article on how to ensure your business survives in a recession and you can check it out here.

Knowing More Helps Too

Increasing your knowledge is also essential to business survival. Amir Ahmad explains that it’s not the time spent studying that makes a difference, it’s your absorption rate. And he explains how to increase your absorption rate in this post.

Increase Productivity

Learning how to do more in less time is important. And if your business involves a lot of writing, you may be aware that there has been a bit of debate across the Internet as to how much quality actually matters. And there’s been some interesting and strong opinions. But, Hunter Nuttall is suggesting that you could save time by taking an article off one of the popular blogs, such as Zen Habits, or Skelliewag.Org, put it into the Automatic Blog Post Rehasher and it will automatically create a fresh article for you. It’s definitely a quick and easy way to write but don’t just take my word - try it out for yourself. The results are certainly interesting.

And Relationships Matter

When you’re so wrapped up in your business, it’s too easy to neglect important relationships - especially when you can’t even find enough hours to sleep. It’s impossible to maintain long-term enthusiasm for your business when other areas of your life are suffering. Kelly Rigby shares A User’s Guide To Fabulous Friendships in an excellent guest post on Zen Habits.

You Can Survive A Flood Without Building An Arc

If you make a written plan of potential disasters your business may face, you’ll be prepared to deal with them. For example - how would your business continue if your premises is flooded, or your home, if you work from home? Check out Dawn’s excellent advice. It really is worth being prepared. I’ve dealt with many cases of flood damage where people had both their homes and business premises flooded. In most cases, they had no back up plan at all and some of those businesses never re-opened. So it really is worth being prepared.

Do you have any more business survival tips to share? Have you followed the crowd and won or lost? And have your relationships suffered because of your business? Please share in the comments section.

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Comments

11 Responses to “Anti-Squash Business Survival Tips”

SEO optimization on March 17th, 2008 5:27 pm

Hey Cath,
This is a great collection of also great articles that can help in the daily business day. Do you have a tip on “how a disorganized guy can organize his day?” thats what I’d desperately need
SEO optimization’s last blog post..Ready For WordPress 2.5 ?
Mrs. Micah on March 17th, 2008 7:18 pm

The rehasher is hilarious! Now you’ve given me a new time-waster. I just have to figure out how to make it useful….
Bob Younce on March 17th, 2008 7:40 pm

@ Cath -

Thanks so much for this one. LOVE the pic!

@ Mrs. Micah - I caught Hunter’s post half an hour ago… I’m just now about to get back to work!

Bob Younce’s last blog post..Writing Around the Web - March 16, 2008
Barbara Swafford on March 17th, 2008 7:53 pm

Hi Catherine,

Thank you for more great links.

It is a jungle out there, and we can get dizzy trying to figure out what works best for us. It’s no wonder so many are mulit-tasking…not necessarily doing a great job at any one thing, but at least getting stuff done.

The one thing a lot of people in business neglect, is their health. What good is it to save for retirement if we might not see the light of those “golden years”?

Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..Branding In Blogosphere - A Necessary Evil
cathlawson on March 17th, 2008 9:55 pm

@ Astrit - Getting organised isn’t easy. I think Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy is the best resource.

@ Mrs M - it’s ace isn’t it? Hunter has turned the theory that content doesn’t matter on it’s head completely.

@ Bob - me too although I would hate to be in that car. The photographer said that someone got out of their car there a week earlier and they were killed by an elephant.

@ Barbara - health is so important isn’t it? I have been guilty of doing that a lot and I’m just trying to get back on track. As you say - what is the point of working so hard if you’re going to drop down dead before you get the chance to retire.
sterling | bizlift on March 17th, 2008 10:36 pm

Hi Catherine, good points, especially the “Don’t Follow The Crowd” advice. If you can demonstrate to clients that you can help them more efficiently boost revenue or reduce costs, a recession can actually bring your more business than during good times.

Ian’s article was great, wasn’t it. I also liked Eat That Frog, but beware of the audiobook. The advice was great but Tracy’s voice and awkward pauses were a bit annoying
dawn on March 18th, 2008 4:28 am

Relationships do matter - and I just posted on my in laws divorce after 50 years of marriage. Their sole focus was on increasing their net worth - the marriage and family relationships paid the price. Balance is so important!
And thanks for the mention, too!

dawn’s last blog post..The In-Laws, Real Estate, & Happiness
Cath Lawson on March 18th, 2008 12:20 pm

Hi Sterling - I didn’t try one of the audio books but I do have one of his video’s and it is a bit grating!

Hi Dawn - that is very sad to spend 50 years doing one thing at the expense of everything else. I’ll check it out.

Catherine Lawson’s last blog post..Anti-Squash Business Survival Tips
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