Archive for Tips for Tough Times
by Celine Roque
October 22, 2009 at 10:06 am · Filed under
Tips for Tough Times
How Small Businesses Win Big in Tough Economies
On Harvard Business, Jeff Stibel lists strategies of successful small businesses. “Action. This is an entrepreneur’s best weapon. Things happen fast these days and fluidity favors small businesses — you don’t need to sort through the layers of bureaucracy that can slow down, or even cripple, larger companies. Small businesses can adapt to any circumstance quickly. As every thriving entrepreneur knows, speed breeds success.”
One Year Later: Lessons Learned From the Downturn
Diana Ransom of SmartMoney compiles several tactics of companies who have survived the downturn. “Not every company can play the low-cost leader. For instance, luxury-oriented companies and brands might see a sales gain by providing stellar customer service. Switching focus or recognizing expansion opportunities can also boost business. “The key is, you should put a lot of thought into which strategy to exploit ahead of time,” Cohan says. “Have acquisition, partnerships and product expansion ideas already in mind so that you are ready when the cycle changes.”
Motivation in the downturn – what’s working now
Carol Katarsky shares a few tips on how to boost morale without being overbearing and at little to no cost on Business Brief. “If business is slower, employees may pad the amount of time it takes to do a task simply to make themselves look busier. It’s a basic ploy to make them feel their job is more secure. Taking a little extra time to ensure work is top-notch is one thing. But some employees may fall victim to do-just-enough-itis. Be sure to set specific deadlines for each task or project — and always have a future or stretch goal for them to shoot for.”
Doing More With Less: Using the Down Economy as a Design Brief
For the design industry, Dan Harden argues that the slow economy can be a catalyst for creativity in his article on Fast Company. “It’s harder to design simple inexpensive products than complex expensive ones. One needs to focus more on the essential user needs and less on the endless feature possibilities or extraneous embellishments. It requires more purity, so that no matter how much they take away from it, it’s more likely to survive intact through its development. Simple inexpensive products are also better for the environment. They consume less material, have fewer parts, and use less energy to manufacture and ship.”
Snapshots From Global Economy
From Britain to China, Wall Street Journal reporters give us a glimpse of the worldwide challenges and recovery. “Still, China’s stimulus now seems to be more than strong enough to meet the official target of an 8% expansion for 2009. Officials are still publicly cautious about the world economy, with exports still down 22% from last year, and have repeatedly said the policy to support growth hasn’t changed. But government statements in recent weeks have focused more on longer-term issues like funding for small businesses and controlling excess capacity. That’s where economists are looking for new measures that would help keep the recovery going into 2010.”
Google Economist Sees Good Signs in Searches
Washington Post’s Cecilia Kang writes about the economic assessments of Google’s Hal Varian. “In March, the number of Google users searching for information about unemployment benefits or employment centers began to drop, Varian said. Overall unemployment has continued to climb, of course, but new jobless claims have declined since peaking earlier this year.”
David Hoover’s Top 5 Tips for Apprentices
On O’Reilly Radar, James Turner features a book on apprenticeship, telling new college grads that finding a good mentor is key. “For Hoover, one strategy that pays off is to not try and be the most experienced person in a group, but the least. “For me, I didn’t really get good solid mentorship until I was able to leave that company and get to another company where I could basically try to be the worst. I wanted to get onto a team where I wasn’t the three-year programmer who was suddenly senior application developer. I wanted to be on a team where as a three-year programmer, I was junior. And then I got to pair with people that had written books about test-driven development and people that were authors of successful open source projects.”
Should Entrepreneurs Sell in Today’s Economy?
Reed Phillips and Jessica Luterman Naeve say that selling your business could be profitable even in a recession, provided you don’t make certain costly mistakes on Harvard Business. “Mistake 3: Not realizing it may be in your best interest to sell now — even if you don’t have to. A popular misconception is that no one would sell their company during a downturn if they did not have to. Exit multiples (the ratio of a company’s value to its earnings) are lower now and there are fewer buyers willing to be aggressive with their bidding. But, that doesn’t mean that your company will sell for more next year or two years from now. Many companies and some industries are still winning premium pricing, including technological innovators and strong cash-flow performers.”
by Celine Roque
September 15, 2009 at 8:59 am · Filed under
Tips for Tough Times
6 Lessons Learned in the Downturn
In his column for HBR, Anthony Tjan writes about his conversation with various industry thought leaders who shared their valuable insights on managing their businesses. “Innovation and creativity matter — we cannot forget that and we need to keep investing in it. Greylock’s Henry McCance commented that in the venture community, cloud computing, Web 2.0, biotech and healthcare continue to have favorable longer-term trends and that though the pace of investing was slower, these sectors continued to receive funding. Innovation moves everything. That said, the bigger question McCance posed was: Will the US continue its innovation and be in a leadership position 40 years from now — and what does it mean if it is not?”
Career Advice: Preparing for After the Recession
AllBusiness features Norm Fjeldheim, Senior vice president and CIO Qualcomm, who shares his experiences in dealing with employees and tips on how to get your career in shape. “Develop your communication skills. The courses in college that had the most benefit long term on my career were the business writing and public speaking courses I took. Being able to communicate well will help your career regardless of whether you stay technical or move closer to the business side of IT.”
Behind The Scenes Of A Flexible Culture
Sandy Burud tackles the issues workers face regarding increasingly popular flexible schedules. “What makes it legitimate for people to work flexibly isn’t whether their company has a policy allowing it, but whether there is a subtle (or not-so-subtle) penalty for doing so.”
Surviving a Recession — And a Wildfire
On HBR, Adam Werbach draws comparisons between the destructive nature of wild fires and recessions, pointing to clues about how to put out the economic fire. “Trees that are prepared to survive fires have some common characteristics. They’re self-pruning; that is, their lower branches fall off regularly. They also grow thick bark and deep roots. Companies can hone these skills as well. The first rule is to be self-pruning, to constantly readjust your staffing to ensure that you have the right levels of capacity and that you’re letting go of the dead weight. Many business leaders find that the first round of cuts in a downturn are ones that they should have made in happy times.”
Your Life, Simplified
Leo Babauta gives some advice on simplifying life so you can spend more time enjoying it rather than worrying about work and commitments. “Set aside some disconnected time. If you’re connected all the time, this step is essential. Don’t skip it! Pick one hour to be disconnected — no Internet, no email, no IM, no phones. You can use your computer, but just for desktop computing, like writing in a word processor or text file, or working in Photoshop, or what have you. Use this time to really focus, to pour yourself into important tasks that you love to do. Or you can use this disconnected time to relax.”
How to save thousands with two words
CPF gives a personal finance tip: add a healthy dose of pessimism in making business decisions. “Often our financial plans are build on best case scenarios. If I put this money in the market for a year and it gains 10%, I will be so much better off. But what if the market goes down rather than up? You should consider the negative possibilities when buying insurance, investing, and starting a new business. These are all situations where realistic negative thinking pays off.”
Appreciation is About Finding the Silver Linings
Even after a layoff, Benjamin Wilcox views life with a positive outlook, sharing his insights on Brazen Careerist. “I have a new found respect for my money and how it is spent. Over the past few months, I have reevaluated my spending habits and the actual value of possessions and experiences.”
by Celine Roque
August 24, 2009 at 9:38 pm · Filed under
Tips for Tough Times
Starting a Design Studio In a Downturn, Part 5: Staying Focused
The last of a five-part series on Fast Company about how Jennifer Bove and her team defied the odds, starting a new design studio in the midst of the credit crisis. “This experience has taught us that even in the toughest financial climate, being passionate about what you do, and focusing on the future really does count for a lot. It’s going to get a lot harder before it gets easier, and for it to work, it will be work. You won’t make a lot of money at first, but there are other rewards. And hey, if you’re going to get laid off, at least you get to give yourself the boot.”
Flex Time: A Recession Triple Win
Sylvia Ann Hewlett presents statistics on different work arrangements and how flexibility can benefit a company on Harvard Business. “Tough times are the right time to formalize flexible work schedules. Remote work options, staggered hours, reduced schedules and mini-sabbaticals are often seen as work perks for the fat years, one of the first targets of corporate belt-tightening. But as research in my forthcoming book Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business Is Down (Harvard Business Press; October 2009) shows, companies that treat time as currency have tapped into one of the secrets to surviving in a recession.”
Recruiters on Twitter Forget ‘Social’ Aspect of ‘Social Media’
Despite social media’s rising popularity among recruiters, Danny Cox thinks they still have a lot to learn and shares his criticisms on The Prospective Employee. “One thing I will say regarding the companies chosen: most seem to be missing the point. The operant word in the above paragraph is ‘trying’ to communicate. Upon some further investigation of many of the companies listed (I focused primarily on Chicago and New York postings, as that’s where I’m hoping to end up) several aren’t following a single person.”
The Art of Letting Employees Go
Eli Saslow reports on an “outplacement firm” that teaches companies how to execute mass downsizings and helps guide laid-off employees through the crisis on The Washington Post. “The Five O’Clock Club has nearly doubled in size during the past two years, and Hall has guided more than 200 companies and 1,500 laid-off workers through downsizings in the past six months. The Club, as it is sometimes called, charges each company about $2,000 per fired employee in exchange for providing layoff victims with a year of career coaching.”
Free work vs. internships
Why doing free work as a remote freelancer is better than paying your dues as an intern, according to Seth Godin. “And the benefit to the underemployed? You guessed it: great experience and a resume builder that actually means something. Isn’t it odd that we’re willing to spend $300,000 to buy an accredited but ultimately useless academic line on our resume, but we hesitate to do a month of hard work to create a chunk of experience that’s priceless?”
Lessons from very tiny businesses
Seth Godin lists instructional stories from different small ventures. “Respond. This is the single biggest advantage you have over the big guys. Not only are you in charge, you also answer the phone and read your email and man the desk and set the prices. So, don’t pretend you have a policy. Just be human.”
The Get-Started-Now Guide to Becoming Self-Employed
Leo Babauta on the things he learned when he quit his day job and started his own business. “This is the best time to start. This is a time when job security is low, so risks are actually lower. This is a time to be lean, which is the best idea for starting a business. This is the time when others are quitting — so you’ll have more room to succeed.”
How to Survive Any Economic Downturn
Martha Retallick of Freelance Switch shares how she dealt with a sagging economy in the early 80’s and the enduring life lessons she learned from it. “If you’re young, fresh out of college, and relatively inexperienced in the work world, you may have to start out at the bottom… Even crummy retail jobs provide the opportunity to gain business experience.”
by Jim Ware
August 10, 2009 at 7:54 am · Filed under
Management, Talent Management, Tips for Tough Times, Work Design
Just found a good article in The Futurist about the future of the job market. In the current economy we’re all concerned about creating enough jobs to get back to something resembling full employment. But given the demographics of the work force, employers who think long term may have a very different challenge ahead of them.
This isn’t new news, but it serves as important reminder of how critical demographics is to thinking about the future.
This comment is from an article by Patrick Tucker in Examiner.com:
The newest issue of THE FUTURIST magazine features writing from career and labor experts John Challenger and Edward Gordon. The picture they paint of the future of work may prove surprising for a number of readers. For instance, despite the presence of millions of people out of work, a shortage of skilled labor could have a devastating effect on the U.S. economy in the decade ahead, according to Gordon.
The full article in The Futurist is available only to paid subscribers, but it can be downloaded as a pdf file for a one-time fee of $3.00. The essential message is simple: as the Boomers retire, there is likely to be a huge shortage of talent in the United States (and no doubt in other countries as well).
As an employer, you should start doing something about it now, while the current slowdown gives you a bit of a break. As an individual, do some soul-searching about what kind of job you want to be in five to ten years from now, and get started on the research and training you’ll need to have.
by Celine Roque
August 4, 2009 at 10:20 am · Filed under
Tips for Tough Times
You Always Have a Job (Even if You’re Unemployed)
In Harvard Business, Daisy Wademan Dowling advocates a strong mindset of treating unemployment as a temporary condition, and how to make sure you get out of the slump fast. “Before, your work was to work — now, it’s to find work. Either way, you’re en route. You’re still making progress. You’re still moving towards the next job, the next phase of your career, your next building block, towards making your total career contribution. The trick to getting to the next destination safely? As hard as it is, you’ve got to help yourself ditch the shame — yes, I said “shame” — of being Unemployed, and get your usual energy back. You’ve got to get yourself ready to go to that cocktail party — or an interview — looking, acting, and feeling like the champ you really are.”
Team Building in a Down Economy
On her blog, Janet Rudolph shares an interview by Maria Lenhardt on the effects of corporate downsizing on employee morale. “A lot of companies have merged or reorganized, she says. In these cases, there s a real need to bring people together and build morale and trust. You can do things that are competitive, but in a non-threatening way. Along with building morale, facilitators also say team building serves an important purpose in getting people unplugged from an increasingly technological environment.”
Marketing Business Services in a Down Economy
Miranda Miller of Suite101 shares some creative freelance professional advertising tips. “In tough economic times, companies can’t always afford to hire another staff member, or they may have a certain need that simply can’t be done in-house. Some freelance professionals use freelance agencies or job auction websites to connect with these buyers. However, the fees charged by those organizations can be steep; many charge a monthly fee plus a percentage of every project completed. Marketing business services without giving an agency a huge cut is possible with these three e-commerce business services marketing tips.”
8 Money-Saving Tips to Support Local Economy
Also from Suite101, Victoria Anisman-Reiner encourages everyone to spend locally to prop up neighborhood businesses. “Feeling the need to tighten belts against the economic downturn? Despite predictions of gloom and doom, there are ways to gather local support and help oneself and others through tough times. With every eye on the economy, it’s never been easier to save money on gas, food, childcare and more by pooling resources and buying within the neighborhood to support local economy.”
Savings In an Uncertain Economy
The Dollar Stretcher’s Gary Foreman proposes an alternative financial strategy for these extraordinary times. “At a time when unemployment has jumped from 5.5% a year ago to 9.4% in May, 2009 it’s understandable that people are concerned about their jobs. And their response has been predictable. The personal savings rate (personal savings as a percent of disposable personal income) was 5.7% in April, 2009. That’s a 14 year high. The same BEA report indicated that personal consumption expenditures (PCE) declined by 0.1%. In other words, many of us have shifted from spending money to saving money.”
7 fast fixes for your credit scores
Liz Pulliam Weston details how you can turn around credit scores while avoiding costly mistakes on MSN Money. “You’ve got plenty of company. There are more than 30 million people in the United States with credit blemishes severe enough (and credit scores under 620) to make obtaining loans and credit cards with reasonable terms difficult. Or maybe your credit is OK, but you’d like to make it better. After all, the better your credit, the lower the interest rates you can secure car loans and credit cards. And these days, having high credit scores is the one sure path to homeownership.”
Entrepreneurship up in down economy
On Forth Worth Business Press, John-Laurent Tronche talks about the resurgence of entrepreneurship as more prople rebuild with rising unemployment. “People who are downsized, or lose their jobs, for a while they’ll look for other employment but if they don’t find something they say, ‘What can I do for employment?’” said Brad Hancock, director of the Neeley Entrepreneurship Center at Texas Christian University. “I’d like to believe people dreamed of owning their own business and that’s their ultimate dream – to be their own boss. But they never had that push, that catalyst. Sometimes they aren’t intentional entrepreneurs but once they’re forced they become successful entrepreneurs.”
Recession Leadership: On Sinking the Boat, Missing the Boat, and Rocking the Boat
Bill Taylor of Harvard Business cites bold moves by companies and individuals during recessions that enabled them to leap ahead in his column Practically Radical. “The challenge for leaders in every field is to emerge from turbulent times with closer connections to their customers, with more energy and creativity from their people, and with greater distance between them and their rivals. The organizations that I admire are determined to offer a compelling alternative to a demoralizing status quo — as the only way to create a compelling future for themselves.”
by Celine Roque
July 17, 2009 at 1:17 pm · Filed under
Tips for Tough Times
How to Stay Up in a Down Economy
Julia King enumerates six ways to nurture yourself and your career with the help of career experts on CIO. “Return to Your Roots. Remember why you first got into information technology? Bring back some of that enthusiasm – and maybe even master a new skill – by doing something you’d never be assigned to do on the job, just for the sheer technological challenge of it.”
Downturn strengthens the case for lean IT
Computing’s Dave Bailey talks to Fujitsu UK’s CTO Marc Silvester who encourages managers and employees to join forces to foster recovery. “It is often said that as much as 80 per cent of a firm’s IT budget goes on ‘keeping the lights on’ – just keeping the existing infrastructure operating smoothly. Given the depth of the current downturn, how the rest of the budget gets allocated could be critical. One approach that could deliver much-needed savings is ‘lean IT’ – a top-to-bottom, employee-driven methodology designed to cut waste, boost efficiency and raise service levels.”
Lessons Learned From An Economy Turned
On Civil Engineering Central, Matt Barcus looks back at what the past year has taught him. “Diversify. Diversify. Diversify. How many firms do you know put all of their eggs in the land development basket? I guess you can’t blame them, right? That’s where all the business was and it did not take long to be completely bogged down with lucrative land development work. To come up for air and even consider anything else was nearly impossible.”
Entrepreneurship up in down economy
John-Laurent Tronche cites examples of successful entrepreneurs and statistics in FW Business Press. “One can think of the recession as a kick in the pants for would-be small business owners. People who have been laid off as a result of company cutbacks or individuals who aren’t finding the opportunities they’d like frequently become entrepreneurs not only to secure a paycheck but also to explore an idea they might have thought about for some time, entrepreneurial experts said.”
The current recession in context
The Bubblemeter offers a sober discussion of the economy and what to expect in the near future. “The ultra-bearish are frequently claiming that another Great Depression is right around the corner. Many of the most pessimistic economic commentators have almost gleefully been comparing the current recession to the Great Depression. To give readers a sense of how not bad the current recession is, here is the decline in GDP of several major recessions vs. the Great Depression.”
BPM emerges as key downturn tech
Miya Knights talks about how the current climate is conducive for new tech like business process management and service-oriented architecture on ITPro. “The analyst said integration appliances were the fastest growing AIM segment, with a 44 per cent increase in 2008. This was followed by service oriented architecture (SOA) governance technologies, BPM suites and enterprise service bus (ESB) suites, which all grew at double-digit rates.”
Best Practices for Getting Hired in a Downturn
Jamie Eckle of AllBusiness lists what should be rules of thumb for those looking to escape IT sector unemployment. “When companies are doing mass layoffs, it’s even more difficult than usual to find another job. What can help? A good way to jump-start your search is to reach out to members of your professional network and let them know you’re looking for work. Be specific about what skills you can offer a potential employer and what type of position you seek to give people a better chance of helping you. Candidates should take a high-touch and high tech approach to networking. Be active at industry, business and community events, and explore online professional and social networking avenues like LinkedIn and Facebook to track down job leads on your own.”
Tokyo Is Burning
On Slate, Daniel Gross talks about the merits of an energy-saving measure in Japan which mandates that buildings be kept at 82 degrees. “In 2005, Environment Minister Yuriko Koike, a pioneering female politician, was seeking ways to slash energy use. And she came up with the Cool Biz campaign. The idea: Government would cut energy bills by keeping thermostats in its buildings at 28 degrees Celsius—82.4 degrees Fahrenheit—during the summer. It quickly produced results and was adopted by the business establishment as well. Since Japan’s energy mavens realized that simply unbuttoning a shirt collar can make people feel about 4 degrees cooler, dressing down became part of the Cool Biz mentality.”
by Celine Roque
July 10, 2009 at 11:22 am · Filed under
Tips for Tough Times
The Case for Working With Your Hands
In the New York Times, Matthew Crawford argues that a re-evaluation of how we view work is timely given the economic situation. “An economy that is more entrepreneurial, less managerial, would be less subject to the kind of distortions that occur when corporate managers’ compensation is tied to the short-term profit of distant shareholders. For most entrepreneurs, profit is at once a more capacious and a more concrete thing than this. It is a calculation in which the intrinsic satisfactions of work count — not least, the exercise of your own powers of reason.”
Despite Bad Economy No Big Shift in Values
David Paul Kuhn features a study by Pew Internet Research on Americans’ views on business and government amidst the recession. “The poll did ping a populist streak in American public opinion, but populism has not surged upward since the market collapse. Fully three fourths of Americans say, “there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies.” More than six in 10 of those polled believe businesses’ profits are too large. But Pew finds these opinions are generally unchanged in recent years.”
What next? Ten questions for CFOs
David Cogman and other analysts from McKinsey Quarterly advise managers to focus on getting the most out of the eventual recovery. “What shape will a recovery take? Even if the worst is over—though we make no assurances that it is—much uncertainty remains about the recovery’s nature and pace. A steady recovery over 12 to 18 months would pose challenges very different from those of a tepid one over, say, five years or even a slip back into recession. What weight are you giving to the possibility of wage and price inflation, high unemployment, lower international trade, or dramatic swings in currency values? What’s more, if excess leverage inflated demand and profitability in the years leading up to the crash, CFOs must help managers to understand what they should expect as normal after the crisis has fully passed and to set appropriate performance targets.”
Office space by the hour
Canada.com’s Maria Teresa Bitti takes a closer look at the booming virtual office business. “Small business owners are looking for cost-effective solutions to renting office space, which can easily run between $6,000 and $8,000 a month, and that’s where we come in. We offer a prestigious business address, mail service and 24/7 access to the space on a pay-per-use basis. It’s a variable cost as opposed to a fixed cost of thousands a month on a lease.”
Do you really need to go into the office?
Phil Swinney of Digital Mayhem says that visibility should give way to accountability, as well as other changes at work. “Skype, Twitter, Yammer, Slideshare, Linkedin, Wikis and many other social media tools are changing how we work. The traditional workspace is moving from a physical location in an office to a virtual space where people share information, ideas, conversations and knowledge online. The water cooler banter is happening on Twitter, the business presentation on Slideshare and the business networking on Linkedin. Our workplace is becoming global and our office spaces virtual.”
Changing Careers in a Bad Economy
If, despite these uncertain times you still feel the need to change career paths, author Dr. Toni Galardi lists a few things you can do to ease the transition on LifeQuake. “Volunteer. Do your research on companies or non profit organizations who court the kind of patrons that you want to network with. By volunteering for charity events or giving even 5 hours a week of your time to a cause you believe in could turn an avocation into a new vocation.”
Good Business In A Bad Economy? Grow Your Business In A Recession
The Digerati Life enumerates the types of businesses that thrive during a downturn, as well as additional links to how to grow your business. “Are there businesses that thrive during an economic recession? Definitely. I believe you can run a small business even in time of crisis. With the right amount of luck, planning and hard work, you can find business success and see your venture do well even in the worst economic conditions. It won’t be a walk in the park, but it becomes a bit easier though, if you are in the right business niche, sector or industry. Being well positioned with the type of business that naturally grows in a struggling economy will no doubt help you a lot.”
Office Space
Erick Villagomez of re:place magazine writes about the future of workplace development in relation to the changing nature of business and work. “Think, for a moment, of how different the business landscape was 10 years ago? 20 years? 30 years? From the development of laptop computers and the refinement of the internet, to the popularity of cell phones and iPhones, the disparity is truly astounding. In comparison to the rapidly-changing technologies that shape the business world, cities are slow-moving entities. Standard bureaucratic processes tend to make things even slower – some to the point of stagnation – due to institutionalizing outdated ideas.”
Entrepreneurship in a declining economy
Coyote Chronicle’s Amanda Meere on how young people are coping by creating their own businesses to generate income. “In today’s economy, students may have to acquire money from alternative job sources. With job losses increasing daily, many have started their own businesses as ways to create income. The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy doesn’t break out statistics for teens and tweens, but says in 2006 there were 492,000 people younger than 25 who were self-employed, according to USA Today.”
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