You’ve already got lots of products or services, so why not re-brand them or re-market them? For example, I sell leadership DVDs that are used by CEOs and their employees around the world. Once I started selling them as a package of four, DVD sales really took off. ‘The BackPocket Packet’ comprises ninety percent of the orders fulfilled from my website today.  And hundreds of companies use them to train their employees now.

Another area to find cash under your company’s ‘pillow’ is by considering selling off a small equity position in your company.  You’ll be able to realize some cash for what you’ve built already, and you could have a major opportunity if you sell a small position to either a current or large supplier, or customer.  If they own 5% of you, you’ll get 100% of their business, too.

And while we’re on the subject. Check out this hilarious spoof headline from The Onion. Beware!

Look for all areas you can cut expenses, except advertising and marketing (if you cut those, you will not only see a slowdown, you’ll be causing it).  Really look for waste in your company and start cutting it fast anywhere you can. Cut the people you’ve been wanting to fire but didn’t have the guts to as well.  Hire salespeople for sure, but cut all the rest of the “dead weight employees,” too.

Increase credit lines at your bank and with credit card companies now, and every six months for as long as you’re in business.  Credit card companies will increase your lines every six months just by you calling them. Also, stop buying stuff.  Really.  Put a freeze on virtually all the spending you can.  You’ll be amazed at how much money you free up just by saying no to virtually all potential expenses.  Tighten the belt fast.

Collect from customers faster than you used to.  Collect COD as much as possible.  Get customers to pre-pay.  Increasing your cash flow at times is as good or better than cutting expenses.

This last point will help increase your cash flow as well, but you have to be gentle and selective in doing it. Pay your bills slower than you used to as well.  Delay paying receivables as long as you can.  Even just waiting until the last few days allowed will make a big difference for you.

pic Dynasty Financial Services

My grandparents were cheap—they were Scottish so they can blame their heritage (copper wire was invented by a Scottish guy who was trying to stretch a penny) – and they taught me to make do and reuse far before it was trendy to do so.  I learned from them at an early age how to bootstrap.

That “be cheap” mentality carried over to my marketing and operation strategies.  Paying for advertising just seems wrong.  It seems like too much of a risk.  And until I’ve tried everything else that I know will work, I just won’t take the chance on marketing that might work.

“Be cheap bootstrapping” also carried over into getting marketing done for my companies.  I’ve hired actors, and instead of giving them money for a photo shoot, I gave them a load of junk removal for free.  We hired another actor when we were very small and gave him $200 cash for unlimited use of his photo.  It ended up being on hundreds of thousands of pieces. Other companies would have paid $5,000 for this kind of work, but we got him to take $200. We just hired a good-looking, young guy who fit our brand. It didn’t hurt that we found someone I’d known since they were 12.

I’ve had TV ads produced, and every actor we used was a friend of the company who did it for no money.  And I have clients in Berlin who are now buying TV advertising and paying a percentage of revenues that it generates to the television station.  They refused to pay a fixed price and convinced the TV station that if the ads were “really going to work,” then the TV station could share in the risk and the potential gains.

Here is one of the biggest secrets ever: every magazine, newspaper, TV and radio station will barter for their advertising space.  Even bloggers will trade space for something they want. The key is for you to find something you have that is of value to them.  Give them some of your products or services in exchange for an equal or greater amount of credit, gift certificates, and so on. There are also plenty of websites around like CrowdSpring where you can get creative work done by dozens of people, and yet you only have to pay the person whose work you love best.

Make a game out of it:  See how cost conscious you can get without compromising your operation.

And if you’re seeing my Ads all over the internet – don’t assume I’m spending very much money – I just found super cheap ways to attract people so more companies would show my DVDs to their employees too.

pic Business Week

While all of your competitors complain about the economy, and spend their time reading every article that confirms their fears, go in the opposite direction.

When companies start laying people off, the great employees fear for their jobs. If you’re hiring salespeople when everyone is laying them off, the positive buzz that you’re still hiring will start to spread – even to customers.

What’s even better? Imagine if you hired one of your competitor’s best salespeople–what would happen then? It would impact both of your companies in precisely the way you want to in a competitive world.

I know it seems odd that while in the middle of a recession you’d want to hire more people, but the people you are hiring are the rainmakers.  You’re hiring people to increase sales, add money to your gross margin, and increase buzz about your company and brands.

pic Search Engine Genie

Ray Kroc grew McDonalds from a few locations to the enormously powerful brand we all know and secretly crave.

He had a particularly cut-throat saying about business: “When the competition is drowning, stick a hose in their mouths.”

While that sounds brutal, Kroc understood that in a recession competitors leave themselves vulnerable. He knew that the best time to eliminate your competition is when they’re at their weakest–during an economic downturn.

I once saw a Nike t-shirt that said, “Somewhere, right now, someone is practicing.  When they meet you head to head in competition, they’ll beat you.”

As a CEO coach, I see that this seizing on vulnerability is where business is most like sports.  Your competition is naturally your opponent, and when you come to the game unprepared for the challenge, someone will be waiting for you to choke, and when you do, they’ll happily leave you on the sidelines while they advance toward their goal.

Hiring competitors’ salespeople, proactively targeting your competitors’ clients and even re-pricing your products or services to attract those clients will help you and hurt your competitor.  Worry more about yourself, but when the competition is drowning, stick a hose in their mouth.  This is one area I mentor CEOs on when I’m coaching them.

‘Survival of the fittest’ isn’t just for the Serengeti – it is alive and well in your industry too.  Who’ll win?

pic Poliza

STOP IT!

STOP IT!

STOP IT!

Stop complaining and stop making excuses. So what if the economy sucks? Yes, there is/was a recession.  Yes, the housing market plummeted.  I know. I get it. I read more news from multiple outlets than I probably should.

As an entrepreneur and as a business coach, I don’t really care that the economy sucks and neither should you.

I was doing a speaking event recently in San Francisco.  It was a four-hour workshop on how to grow your company and foster an awesome culture.  The group I was presenting to was a large group of entrepreneurs from all over the United States.  Some had sixteen employees, some had one hundred and sixty employees, and a few had a couple thousand employees.   They were all planning on growing roughly 20% in 2009– and we’re in the throes of a recession – but they didn’t care.  Yet they kept talking about the economy in spite of the fact that they all planned to grow their businesses.

Finally, I told them every time I mentioned the word “economy” during the four hour session they were to scream, “STOP IT!” loudly at me.  We practiced a few times, and they were really loud for sure. I never mentioned the word for the rest of the presentation.

Everyone should play this little game with themselves: Every time you hear yourself saying either “economy” or “recession” silently scream, “STOP IT!” to yourself.

The reality is that there is a huge slowdown, and when it runs its course, we’ll all learn that it was worse than anything we’ve gone through since the Great Depression.  However, the smart and focused entrepreneurial companies will work around it will still do well. We may have another recession somewhere down the line, and if we do, there’s no reason to behave any differently than we did during this time.

As an entrepreneur, “the unknown” will always be a part of your life.

“Never miss out on an opportunity like a good recession.” – Jack Welch