How To Survive a Recession

The secret to surviving a recession is opportunity recognition.  The first step in opportunity recognition is to know and believe that there will always be opportunity for those who seek and pursue it.  Regardless of how bad the economy may seem, people still buy and sell.  People still have needs to fill and businesses have products and services that meet those needs.  When the economy goes south, however, there is mass fear and concern and the perception is that the entire world may completely cease to function.  This is patently untrue.  Even in the Great Depression of the 1930′s the world continued to function and 75% of Americans had work and jobs.  Some people actually became wealthy during the Great Depression because they were able to identify opportunity and capture it.

One of the great examples of success during the Great Depression is the motion picture industry.  People were so distressed and fearful about their economic condition they needed emotional relief and a means to escape.  The movies provided that relief, no matter how brief and temporary.  The movie industry identified need and opportunity and filled it at a price people were able to pay.  Opportunity always exists, even though it may be harder to recognize in tough times because it takes a different form.

In good times, opportunity comes in the form of just doing more of what already works.  Opportunity in good times assumes the continuation of the normal and capitalizes on things remaining normal.  In bad times, opportunity comes by abandoning things that no longer work and finding new things that will work, based on new needs.  Recession itself is a great opportunity for those who choose to see it that way.  It’s just that the opportunities may look different and they might require us to leave our comfort zones.  Now we are down to the real stress that a bad economy produces; the stress of change and the need to leave our comfort zones!  Sometimes that means taking a new road.
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