I was in Reno Friday evening when I heard the news of our country's credit downgrade. Immediately, I began to wonder how the rating drop would impact the businesses that we work with and our economy overall. After some searching on the internet- I found this YouTube video (under 3 minutes) that explains the situation very well: WATCH THE VIDEO
As business owners and those who service businesses, it is more important than ever to be confident and focus our attentions where we can make the biggest positive impact on our economy- please consider the following:
- VALUE/SERVICE- making sure we are adding more value than our customers are paying for will help them to view our products/services as something they MUST HAVE rather than something they can do without. When money is tight, consumers and businesses look to the company's who add the most value!
- FOCUS- we need to make sure we are focusing on the growth of our businesses rather than settling back and maintaining. The economy will not recover if businesses are operating in a 'wait & see' mode. Being focused on growth (measured, monitored & managed) will help us turn the economic downturn around and bring pride & productivity back to America.
- STAFFING- communicating with our teams and encouraging them to squeeze as much productivity out of each day as possible will help to prevent further layoffs in our economy. We still have a staggering number of people unemployed in America (9.1%) so taking care of our current staff and making sure everyone is working to their fullest potential will help us to keep people employed and make way for even more job opportunities as our businesses continue to grow.
Our country has suffered a deep financial blow but we can certainly make a positive difference. Adding more VALUE/SERVICE, FOCUSING on the growth of our businesses and calling forth the very best from our STAFF- will enable the small businesses of America to do what we have always done- rise above the challenges and help create a stronger economy.
God Bless America....now let's get to WORK!
