Happy Links (Chicken Little Edition!)
January 9, 2009 in Happy Links, Happy Quotes
- The Startup Depression. The opening salvo here from Jason Calacanis (who has retired from blogging, so don’t mistake this, or his dozens of other recent blog posts for, um, blog posts).
It’s not short, but it is reasoned and interesting (including some personal details), and ends with 10 things you can do. He then follows up that post with this further commentary: Good News for People Who Hate Bad News.When the market is in the middle of correcting, as I believe it is currently doing, people tend to underestimate everything including:
a) how bad it will be
b) how quickly it will get worse
c) how long it will take to recover
- Employees, Freelancers and Entrepreneurs - How to recession-proof yourself includes a list of rather drastic steps Ryan Carson has taken with his company (cutting some employees, and his Audi), and some panicky tips for weathering it.
As hard as it may be, it’s time to lay off staff who aren’t directly generating revenue. If you avoid doing this now, you might go out of business later which means you have to lay off everyone, which will be much, much worse.
- Recession Tips for Web Designers provides counsel (and a bit less panic) applicable to more than just web designers, from the sage and entertaining Jeffery Zelman.
There are four keys to surviving bad economic times: do good work, charge a fair price, lower your overhead, and be sure you are communicating with your client.
Ok, now that we have done our due diligence and ingested, contemplated and processed these downers, it’s time to do what good and successful entrepreneurs do – put on the hat of ridiculous and unfounded optimism, and make sure we’re the exception. You are the exception right? If you’re reading this, you’re the exception, trust me. And as the exception, we recognize that a down time means competition is lighter, opportunities greater, and that those who work hard, and smart enough to survive will be in control when the cycle recovers. Now let’s do it.
“You have to be an optimist – almost delusionally optimistic – otherwise you’ll never ever think about creating something new, like a business.” – Guy Kawasaki