Monthly Archives: October 2009

Very poignant post. I agree that globally this seems to be the age of re-evaluation. With technology moving as fast as it does, the topics on which we are experts today could very well be irrelevant by tomorrow. You make a good point about not brooding, all we can do is rethink and move forward. Thanks again for a post, looking forward to your next!

Another great post John! Thank you!

I've played a tremendous amount of baseball in my life and I continue to see infinite parallels that can be drawn between winning a baseball game and winning the game of business.

The ecomomic reality you've described is not pretty and, as you descrbied, paralysis WILL result in failure.

A World Series played in Phillie and NY will NOT be stable. It will have its share of ugly weather, insane fans and rotten calls. Welcome to the big leagues. The team that can understand its critical success factors, adapt quickly to changing conditions, manage emotions, stay focused and continue to execute no matter the odds will emerge victorious.

Go Yankees…

Good thoughts, Our TAB board is constantly drilling that into us. If this is the business climate I'm in, what should I be doing.

Great article John. We are addressing similar issues here in Wilmington, NC with our TAB Board Members. In fact, we have a Lunch & Learn this coming Wednesday (10/7/09) to explore the "new normal". Our local TV station interviewed us on the 5pm news to discuss this issue and how our TAB Boards are helping. Here's the link for the 3 minute video clip: http://capcorp.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/the-new-normal-in-accessing-capital-to-grow-your-business/

John:

I would throw in a couple of additional points:

The major banks – BoA, Wells-Fargo, Citigroup, etc. have vastly greater losses than they have capital to cover. Add to that many regional banks about to take big commercial real estate hits, and the FDIC "insurance" is worthless for any business.

Banks will fail soon, we just don't know which ones yet.

You can guarantee that when the voters can't get money out of their savings account, Congress will insure they get the bailout this time. There is no cash available for an FDIC bailout – only more of Uncle Sam's credit card, and it is getting close to its limit. Be prudent – assume if your bank go under you will recover zero.

So it's time to really dig into your bank's balance sheet – you don't want discover a problem by having payroll checks bounce.

Second point – necessities will come first. It's time to go reread Maslow and re-discover the hierarchy of needs. People will pay for food and items associated with food first, then shelter (note this doesn't necessarily mean the mortgage payment right now, but does include power, heating oil, etc.). For a refresher see this link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

Assume physical and safety needs will consume the bulk of available cash, so if we are hunting new sales – we need to sell where the cash is most likely to be available.

So if you are planning a new marketing campaign aimed at selling gold-plated electrical fixtures to pet stores that specialize in crystal dishes and escargot-pureee cat food, it's time for a new plan.