The Newsletter dedicated to Managers and Business Owners

How To Grow Your Business During A Recession

I want to preface this article with the statement, “More Millionaires were made during the Great Depression than in any other period in US history.”

Why is that?

We only need one word to answer that question, “opportunity”.

In times of economic downturn, you either (1) change your strategy to thrive, or (2) panic and to try to survive.

Which will you do?

In times of recession and fear the best way to grow is to add even more value to lives of our clients.

The only way to be recession proof and to build your company in down times is to do it on the shoulders of your employees and people.

People are the most important element of any company or business, so to get through the hard times we all must focus on people.

People are customers, clients, vendors, employees, managers, and any other people we come in contact with.

Adding value to their lives and not focusing strictly on making money will set you apart from all of those “grabbing for dollars”.

If we know a snow storm is coming, we make sure that we have ample firewood and we feed the fire with as much wood as we need.

People are the wood any business will have and they are the fuel that will fire any of the efforts companies will need in these times.

In 1918, a young orphaned boy started a Japanese electrical company with 50 bucks and no connections. His vision was to create wealth not only for shareholders, but also for society as a whole.

By pawning everything he possessed, he was able to build up a national network of salespeople to mass market his products at low prices.

When the Great Depression and the war hit, he was left with too much inventory and too many employees. Many companies at the time panicked and many people lost their jobs, but not if you worked for him.

Instead of letting people go, he kept them at their current wages and banded them together.

He said, “progress and development can only be realized through the combined efforts and cooperation of each employee of our company. United in spirit, we pledge to perform our corporate duties with dedication, diligence and integrity.”

He implemented this as their mantra and backed it up with his “Seven Principles”:

• Contribution to society
• Fairness and Honesty
• Cooperation and team spirit
• Untiring effort for improvement
• Courtesy and humility
• Adaptability
• Gratitude

Not only did his company survive, but he thrived and added value and jobs to all of Japan (and the world).

In 1959, a wealthy and flourishing Mr. Konosuke Matsushita launched a sister company that went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company founded by an orphaned young boy,…. Panasonic.

Josh Long