SMALL BUSINESS TIPS TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD IN HARD TIMES

In episode eight of the World War II HBO movie “The Pacific”, there’s this scene where Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone was telling his troops, who were pinned down under heavy enemy fire, to keep moving forward…to “get off the beach or die!” Apparently, your survival rate is a lot better when you’re moving forward than when you’re just lying flat out in the open beach waiting where the next round’s going to hit.

Similarly, during hard economic times, you stand a better chance of surviving these hard times if you keep moving forward exploring other business possibilities than just sitting idly and hoping the crisis boils over soon. During hard times when you are so discouraged and on the brink of giving up on your dreams and goals, when you feel hopeless and helpless, pinned down under a relentless barrage of financial burden, the worst thing you can do is to accept defeat and just stop fighting. As Gunny John Basilone put it so eloquently, “Get off the beach or die!” You need to keep fighting. You need to keep your small business moving forward.

Here are some tips to boost up your energy and keep your small business moving forward in hard times:

• Set your small business goals clearly in your mind and heart. The clearer your goals, the greater your determination to achieve them. Visualize yourself savoring the benefits of achieving your goals.
• Keep yourself highly motivated. Dedicate your success to someone you hold very dear (your parents, your spouse, your kids, your pet dog). In spite of so much bad vibes going around you, keep a positive outlook by surrounding yourself with successful role models and staying away from negative chicken littles and doubting thomases. Investing a few dollars to hear motivational speakers is highly recommended. You not only recharge your motivation level, you also get to relax for a few hours and maybe even meet new potential clients.
• Never get sidetracked from your goals. With so much happening today around you affecting your focus and determination (politics, love, FaceBook), your attention and energy can easily get diverted elsewhere, slowing you down or even pulling you away from your own goals.
• Reward yourself after each victory. Whether its a shiny new bling bling or just a cold glass of your favorite beer, rewarding yourself makes achieving your small business goals so much sweeter and motivates you to reach for even bigger goals.
• When you’re on a winning streak, keep rolling. Maintain that winning momentum. If you have a tendency to slow down after a victory, DON’T!
• Keep a record of your past victories (photocopies of your biggest commission checks and purchase orders). Frame them and put them on your wall if you want to. Heck you can even post them on FaceBook and maybe your friends will like you even more. These will be like trophies to constantly remind you that you have done it before and you most certainly can do it again. You can even dare yourself to get an even bigger commission check than the last one you have.
• Time keeps moving forward even if you decide to stop. Remember you only have a few finite years to realize your goals (forty years on average). Any amount of time you waste today moping idly, you can never ever recover tomorrow.
• Avoid burnout by managing stress. If you can afford a vacation, go on a vacation. Or learn a new craft or skill that can broaden your horizon. After recharging your batteries, you can come back to your small business filled with new ideas and feeling like a winner.
• Keep moving forward by exploring new challenges. Nothing motivates more than the excitement of finding and exploring something new. Even in these hard times, it’s still a good idea to start new projects, or diversify into other areas related to your small business. Before you know it, you would have multiple income streams where before there was but one.

Whether its war in the Pacific, or a battle for small business market share, you need to keep moving forward towards the strategic high ground to survive and dominate the field. Staying idle and static will only lead to defeat.