The Not-So-Great Depression

Rocky has some of the greatest clarity of people and events in the world of anyone I know. Her awareness is strikingly clear.

She has, for the last several months, labeled our current economic downturn as “The Not-So-Great Depression.” She has been calling it that since November. And I suspect when it’s all said and done, when we look back, it will likely be described similarly.

Our Depression-Lite is still painful. But we aren’t boiling our belts and shoes for soup. We aren’t burning our furniture for heat. No trader or banker is buying or selling apples on the streets of Wall Street.

We are shopping at Wal-Mart instead of Target. We are eating at McDonalds instead of Applebees.

But just the same, it’s fatiguing.

“We’ve gotten a continuing drumbeat of worsening economic data,” as I read in an article today.

Every day the news tries to come up with new ways to express to you the amount of suck this whole thing is.

I feel like someone with a chronic condition. “I have good days. I have bad days.”

In fact, I have good and bad moments in a day. Sometimes I feel like I can take on the world, sometimes I feel like I don’t have it in me to grind out one more day.

And, like the market, my emotions have little to do with what is really going on. Sometimes things are fine and I still feel exhausted just from the theoretical weight of it all.

But in my strong moments my strength tells me to focus on the basics:

• Get enough sleep.
• Eat well.
• Exercise.

In my work:

• Focus on what you have.
• Focus on the clients you have.
• Focus on the team you have.
• Focus on what you do well.

I believe it’s not brilliance that will get us through this. It will be staying persistent doing what we’re good at.

I also believe that this philosophy also has room for innovation. As an example, I’m doing a small test “pay for performance” model with a brand new market segment. In this test, I’m paying all fees and advertising budgets in return for making a percentage of the closed sale. We’ll see how it goes. The test client loves it so far. If it proves to be economically feasible, it could be a brand new way of doing the work we have done all these years.

I’m still doing what I’m good at. I’m just doing it in a new format.

I was tempted recently to branch out into new services and new businesses. I have that manic entrepreneur mentality within me. When things are intense and crazy, my response is often to just start acting violently… without much thought.

I’ve since decided against that. I’ve decided to stay focused on what I’m good at. Starting a brand new venture in a brand new expertise is probably better suited for more stable times.

As far as I can see, I think the strategy in this mess is to just keep the course. Stay consistent. Do what you are good at.

I’d love to know what your strategy is to mentally get through all of this. Let me know.

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