Information from the media related to the global crisis is coming at us like a chihuahua drinking from a fire hose. The majority of the readers and members of this site are small business owners. Blogs, MLMs, Marketing programs and pretty much every kind of online business under the sun. What should you do? Is it time to sell? How will your small online business survive when globally business, and credit is on the down turn. A good first step is to pause and get your bearings. How is your cash situation? Is your business reliant on consumer spend? Could there be a silver lining to this crisis?

There are a lot of questions and very few answers.

I came across a presentation from Sequoia Capital which does a good job of putting things into perspective for any online business, large or small:


Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs –  If you’re an email subscriber, you’ll have to visit the site to have a look.

Personally, I think there are a few simple things you can do to help weather the storm:

  1. As i mentioned above, pause and figure out your scenario. Go through best case and worst case scenarios in terms of sales, web traffic, and cash flow over the next year
  2. If you are currently running paid advertisements, do a deep dive and trim the fat: Cut any low performing or low return campaigns
  3. Eliminate any non-essential spending. Do you really need to schmooze at Conference XYZ in Vegas this year?  
  4. Do not go crazy with experimentation. Another great article on this topic at problogger has some excellent advice, but I don’t know how far you can really go when any mistake can make (or break) you. If you’re making money, keep doing what you’re doing.
  5. Have fun! Getting down on yourself during difficult times can bring down everyone around you, adversely affect your business, and limit your ability to succeed. 

    6.  

Keep your head up and remember that the economy is cyclical. If you fall off the wave now, you won’t get to ride it back up to the top! :)

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