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Recession Pep Talk: How to Become Resilient in Business

Recession Pep Talk: How to Become Resilient in Business

“Fear, greed and hope have destroyed more portfolio value than any recession or depression we have ever been through.”

– James O’Shaughnessy

The only way to prepare for a recession is to do the things that make your business healthy outside of a recession, too: acquisition, sales, fulfillment. That’s what we’re going to talk about today, because getting these things in place is what will allow you to respond to whatever happens over the next six months. 

Because, really… what do you think there is to do?

Set your sights right now on surviving and thriving through whatever happens, not on shrinking, receding, and fearing what is about to happen… because you really never know!

What we all think a recession looks like is this: 

  • One client canceling your retainer and giving 30 days notice on it (one “last paycheck”). 
  • An agency client not emailing you as often over the past month. 

What we associate with a recession is this: 

  • A new client scheduling an introduction because of a referral. 
  • An existing client ramping up an existing retainer from $1500 ad hoc to $3000-4500/month. 
  • An existing client doing a call for new pitches. 
  • A repeat client coming back for a $15,000 engagement. 

There’s still work to be done during a recession – it’s just that it might be different people who need the work done. That’s the part that’s scary — change. But change is almost always scary. Part of what we’re doing here now is learning how to ride the waves as they go up and down and become friends with change. 

GOOD BUSINESS BASICS:

Protect yourself from external things like a recession and internal things like illness, changing your business, etc. 

Get yourself on a fixed paycheck like that described in Profit First (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.). 

When you become the bank of yourself, you have more flexibility. You can make decisions further out, you can adjust and be agile in the face of change. This is the secret to long-term freelancing: you slowly get better with money and you aren’t living from client check to client check. This is obviously helpful in a recession, but it’s also helpful when you decide to work with clients with net 90 terms, etc. 

Capacity plan and always be looking to make your work time more efficient. 

Knowing how you’re spending your time is the second best thing to actual money. Even if we aren’t billing hourly, we need to know where all our hours go. If you approach work with the sense of, “I have all the time in the world,” your work will absorb all the time in the world. 

You’ll step over efficiencies and be unable to invest those efficiencies in important things like self-care, professional development, and marketing or administrative work. 

“Date” your marketing activities. 

You need to be in a full-on relationship with how you market your business and reach out to potential new clients. Every day, every week, there needs to be some kind of thought or outreach associated with how you get clients. Just like in real dating, how you do it will be unique to you and your comfort level — there’s no one perfect way to do this. But we all do it in some way if we want to have a relationship  AKA if you want to circulate with new clients. 

PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS:

The success of any and every business, including our writing business, can be simplified into three elements: acquisition, sales, and fulfillment.

  • How we find potential customers and connect with them
  • How we close on new business and what we charge
  • How we accomplish the work we promised and provide a good experience

If we’re entering a recession — or any difficult period of time like an illness, layoff — we need to check over these functions and make sure we’ve got them dialed in.

  • How would you rate your current ACQUISITION on a scale of 1-10 right now?
  • How would you rate your current SALES on a scale of 1-10 right now?
  • How would you rate your current FULFILLMENT on a scale of 1-10 right now?


Keep that in mind and focus on the function that will give you the biggest boost right now. 

Acquisition

Set up a “marketing date” every Monday and Thursday at 10AM. Do a handful of activities within your comfort level to keep the ball rolling. (1 hour per week). Ed Gandia recommends focusing your prospecting on essential services that businesses need to run instead of “nice to haves.”  Focus on technology that supports parts of the business that are non-negotiable.

Sales

Are the right kinds of customers saying yes to intro calls with you? (If not, how you talk to them and what your online presence looks like might need a touch up). Does the interaction typically lead to a proposal? (If not, your pricing and proposals might need an update.) Assess your rates and how you’re charging. Do you have the equivalent of at least $50 per hour? (If not, it’s time to start moving in that direction with new clients.) 

Fulfillment

Do you typically know what your week looks like before it starts? (If not, you need to practice scheduling in advance and having a mini company meeting on Fridays or Mondays to set yourself up for success.). Do you typically have enough time to get your work done in a given week? (If not, you need to look at capacity planning).

COME ON IN, THE WATER’S FINE!

I return to this idea a lot because I still find comfort in it myself: 

In 10 years of freelancing, external factors have not had a significant impact on my workload or income level. Only internal factors like health problems, maternity leaves, or transitioning a spouse in and out of the workforce. I’ve had to be open to changing what I do and who I do it for… but I have always found work to be done. 

ADDITIONAL READING