Business is improving, despite all the obstacles in this unpredictable economy that remain and those ahead of us. This is largely self-fulfilling prophecy as our engine runs on premium personnel and our management team isn’t half-bad either.
We have invested a great deal in new products and new markets. I’m a big fan of Alan Kay’s expression, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
I guess you could say this message comes somewhat diluted by the BP oil spill. Accidents, like the BP oil spill and natural disasters are unpredictable but they are going to happen. I can see the raw and gut-wrenching effects as they unfold for our neighbors in the Gulf States and the Florida Panhandle. We are certainly not exempt from the fallout. We are also far more fortunate.
There’s little one can do in the moment but there is much that can be done to either prevent an occurrence or deal as effectively as possible with the results. Unless of course, your government gets in the way. That’s a whole other topic.
I believe we are as well prepared as we can be to limit the impact of most natural disasters. Arguably we are and will be impacted on a financial and personal level as well. To what extent will be born out by the actions, performance and lessons learned by others. Certainly, we are far more fortunate.
There is still no consensus on when and where the economy will improve. I spend a great deal of time measuring and evaluating circumstances as they may affect our business.
You can watch Fox News or CNN but our success or failure has little or nothing to do with the economy, politicians or other outside factors. It has to do with you and me. It has to do with the quality and functionality of our products and services. It has to do with how we deliver our products and services! It has to do with how we choose and treat our customers and our partners.
We are nothing to big business or big government in terms of our success or failure. We are everything onto ourselves. We will not succeed or fail due to outside influences. We will only fail if we are cannot deliver excellence on all levels, products, customer service, implementation and ongoing support.
Conversely, big business and big government need us to succeed. Theirs has become a global problem. They have simply ignored the entrepreneur; unless, of course, the entrepreneur is holding the glass slipper. Small businesses are mostly carriages of pumpkins and mice out there delivering the goods. There are very few Cinderella stories. Once delivered, even when the glass slipper fits we continue working well past the ballroom festivities which has become, as intended, a fantasy. We are soon forgotten. When the carriage of big government and horses of big business are stabled and their cats are away, the mice, small business people, you and I, will come out to play. Small business can be very resourceful, if left alone.
