You And Your Business In A Recession

When there is a drought, most farmers pray for rain.

Or contact their friendly neighborhood Indian to show them how to do a rain dance.

But really now, will that make rain pour like cats and dogs? In most circumstances, unfortunately, that’s a “no”–so you just have to wait until it rains.

And in a recession, you just have to weather the storm and do all you can to keep your business afloat.

There are a few things you can do, though, to help keep yourself in business. Such as…

Consider changing the way you do business
If you’re faced with cutting your budget, perhaps you’ll need to adjust your marketing methods. Maybe some of the budget you usually set aside for advertising can be redirected to retraining your staff. Especially since customer service is paramount to establishing yourself away from your competitors.

How much you take for yourself in return for your efforts
As the owner of the business, perhaps you’ll be willing to take a lesser cut in order to keep the business viable. Or, you can lower the profit margins for a brief time or until they are once again in the normal range.

Making even just a few adjustments will help you continue to meet the needs of your customer. You might also consider offering sales and discounts in order to draw your current customers and prospects to you. To keep them coming back.

In the event you have shareholders, they’ll be glad you’ve kept them up-to-date about the circumstances with which you’re faced. This will give them an opportunity to ask questions and to even be a part of the decisions with which you’re faced.

Before you know it, the recession will be a thing of the past and you can get back to a thriving business.

We’ve found quite a few resources about surviving a recession, and have collected them here.

3 Red Flags On Debt Consolidation Services Online

Often on the heels of the “New Year” come all sorts of new or “revised” Resolutions and additional debt from Christmas overboard. Or just from unexpected cutbacks in your income.

As a result, many of us may be less than friendly to the postal delivery person. With their appearance, we’re swamped with credit cards bills and maybe monthly statements from our auto loan company.

So what’s a body to do when we’re overwhelmed with the additional expense and know full well we can’t quite stretch the income that month?

Some of us will consider a Debt Consolidation Service to help us regain control. Actually, it’s a good idea to do so because the debt consolidation service will work with you and your credit company to get your interest rates and monthly payment to a lower expenditure.

A Debt Consolidation service will also act on your behalf as an intermediary for you with the credit lender. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

In theory, yes!

It can be a great solution. However, choosing a Debt Consolidation Service must be done with careful thought and consideration. Particularly because, unfortunately, there are some deceitful and devious people in the online community.

So that means you’ll want to pay attention to and watch out for scammers when you’re searching for a Debt Consolidation Service online.

Red flags = disreputable Online Debt Consolidation Service

Huge and unreasonable fees

Some companies charge $100 just to review your account, and they may “couch” the fee by describing it as a “credit analysis”. Then there are those that offer an “educational program”, which consists mostly of free forms, letters and information gathered from other Internet Web sites!

Their cost to you for the “free” forms they gathered from the web? Could be as high as $1,500! So, word of caution; be wary of any company that pushes for up-front payment before you receive any type of service or materials.

Sound too good to be true – run away

When you hear things like “Your monthly payment will be half of what you’re currently paying!” “We’ll get your interest rate slashed to zero percent!” “You’ll be paying less in just two weeks!”, you might want to make a bee-line as far away from this pitch as you get. Or, put them on “ignore” because they’re rarely true.

None of us is a miracle worker…so write off quick fixes right now. Any solutions will definitely take longer than two weeks. In fact, when you use debt consolidation, you ought to expect at least a month, if not longer, before you can see a difference in your finances.

If you think about it…billing periods for most companies are 30 days so it would be at least that long to notice a difference.

Who initiated the contact?

What is your junk mail or caller ID quotient? Usually, any company that sends out SPAM, makes cold calls to you at home, or fills up your mail box with “junk”, is fishing for something and most likely, it’s a fee. And worthy of a double take from you before you make a decision.

Further, if you’re in doubt about the authenticity of a Deb Counseling Service, make a call to the Better business Bureau. Which ought to help to allay any concerns you might have about the company.

You could also make it a point to chat with family and friends to see if they have any knowledge about the service you’re considering.

Knowing there is efficient, reliable assistance online for debt negotiating, and how to find it, ought to also alleviate some of the concerns that come along when facing unexpected bills and debt collectors.

You can see so for yourself here.

What’s Your Stress Meter?

You’ve probably heard more times than you care to count “do this…and get away from stress”, or, “do that…and you will be totally relieved of stress”, which causes you to be even more stressed out!

So what are you supposed to do? Here are some actions we’ve found that you can take to de-stress your life.

1. Listen to your body talk.
No one knows better than you what your warning signs of anxiety are.

2. When you start feeling anxious, try to determine the cause.
It could be something as “little” as a fear of giving a speech in class to apprehension about whether your dinner party will be a success. To whether you’re that new prospect is going to sign with you next week.

3. You’ve pinpointed the stress trigger.
What do you suppose you could do to change things?

4. Okay. So now you know what your stress point is.
What are you doing to alleviate the stress? Are you eating properly? Have you turned to smoking or drinking? Are you getting enough sleep?

5. Eat complex carbohydrates rather than refined ones.
This will really help you cope with mood swings.

6. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables
And keep sugar and salt intake low.

7. Drink plenty of water; it will rehydrate your body.
Try to keep caffeine consumption to a minimum.

8. Avoid nicotine or any other self-prescribed drug.

9. Full up to the brim.
Besides getting your fill of complex carbohydrates and sufficiently re-hydrating yourself, a time for guilt-free relaxation is one of the most important elements in any plan to combat stress.

10. Several elements of your relaxation package could include listening to music, doing yoga, meditating, enjoying aromatherapy and any other stress busting exercise.

11. Now about your mental attitude.
Another way to tackle stress is to learn to be assertive and to manage your time properly. Which includes learning to say no!

12. Another part of your de-stress management plan might include a stress management training course.

13. And, if you need help to get through your day and night, be sure to speak up. Your friends and family members could be glad to lend a hand.

Facing stress is one thing no one should have to tackle alone. Once you learn to talk about your issues with stress and adopt some of the points listed here, you ought to be on your way to feeling much better.

To search for more ideas about handling stress and managing weight issues, see here.

The need to be thin to be in

Now that we’re a few days beyond the middle of the month, have you heard the question?

How are you coming with your New Year Resolutions?

If you’ve lost your way, it’s not too late to get back your resolve.

As you might guess, many of us make the more popular resolutions to eat right, to lose weight and to get into shape. Of all the resolutions, though, perhaps none carries more emotion than losing weight. This is because somehow along the way, many people’s self esteem is tied to the way they look.

It’s no wonder! Take a look at the television stars and movie stars, the models in magazines or on the Red Carpet for any of the Awards shows. Even some television commercials focus on the need to be thin to be in.

For most of us, if we eat too much of the wrong things like high calorie foods from fast food places, sooner or later, more likely than not we’re going to find some pounds clinging to us that weren’t there before.

How did that happen?

Or, they may get there because we’ve neglected to keep up with an exercise routine, or we’ve spent a little more time watching television than we need to instead of being involved in physical activity.

Well, it’s not too late to go back to the basics

One of which is to educate you regarding diet, and to eat smart. This means reading material about the diet, as well as labels, when you shop for groceries. And, refrain from going to the grocery store when you’re hungry.

And then there’s “exercise”!

This does not necessarily mean you have to go to the gym. You can start by simply jogging or walking around the block. Swimming in the neighborhood pool is good, too. Simple push-ups and sit-ups can be a great form of exercise. Or, parking the car at the end of the lot. How about taking the stairs?

Some of the cable channels run exercise programs that you can watch at various times of the day and night.

And next year at this time, you’ll be pleased with your results.

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Debt Negotiating

Tips About Unsecured Debt Consolidation Loans

Are you ready to throw in the blanket on ever getting out of debt? Don’t do it. You may have a chance to reduce your debt with unsecured debt consolidation loans. These loans are somewhat more difficult to obtain, but it is well worth the effort. You will find tips on how to use unsecured consolidation loans to put you back in charge of your debt. Instead of the debt controlling you, you will control the debt.

Catch more information here.

Benefits Of A Recession

Would you believe that there are benefits to a recession? Yes there are and by knowing what they are, you can take advantage of them.

First, when the economy is in recession, you will soon get a fat check from the Internal Revenue Service or IRS amounting to $300 or $1,200. Why does the government issue it? This is the government’s way to help the economy. If you have not received yours yet, you will probably get it next year.

You can read more about this here

You made it

Karen McGreevey, here!

Today is the beginning of a “new era” as I’m launching “Clicking For Change”, a division of Konceptuality - Virtual Assistant Konsulting!

At Clicking for Change, we hope you find some reading that interests you. Since this is a brand new site, we’re also in the process of adding and changing things around. So if you see something today that’s gone tomorrow, it’s not your imagination!

In the next couple of months, we’ll also be launching A Bee In Your Bonnet (coming soon). Although this link is not yet currently live, you’ll want to mark your calendar to check on it. We’ll have things like ebooks, audio, video, graphics, etc., you can use for your Internet Marketing.

In particular, at you’ll want to “head first” to “On the Bright Side”, for Coaches, Speakers and Solopreneurs. You can get your complimentary copy at Konceptuality. Delivery is Thursday mornings, in plenty of time for your morning coffee.

Kreative Ramblings, is another blog, might have things of interest to you, too. As well as “As Long As You’re Here”.

If you have questions, feel free to contact us.

And do come back here often!

Best regards,

Karen McGreevey
Konceptuality
Kreative Ramblings
As Long As You’re Here – Internet Marketing blog
A Bee In Your Bonnet – Coming soon“
Itty Bitty Marketing Boutique – “Coming soon”

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