[thelist] Financial Situation

[Joel D Canfield]

quoth dave kaufman-

> I've been spending some time thinking and reading about what
businesses
> survive, or even do well, in a depression.  In that last one, it
seems,
> vendors of strong alcohol and those offering venues for temporary
> emotional
> "escape", like movie theaters and comedy venues, did quite well :-)

ah, I'm all set then . . . just stock the basement with booze and jazz
and turn on the VCR; "Line forms at the back door, folks . . . "

seriously, small businesses who differentiate themselves by providing
excruciatingly good service on a good product or service at a fair price
will do okay. also, if somehow you can tweak your niche to fit folks'
perception of the economy, you can do better than okay. 

my wife is a virtual assistant. she started specializing in marketing
mentoring for her clients (mostly solo professionals) and her business
has doubled-three months in a row. she now has eight times the work she
had last summer, so it's gone from the back burner to our core business;
my web work is now to support what she's doing. 

these people know they need to do something but they aren't hiring full
time help right now. when they realize they can essentially rent a
professional for as little as two hours at a time, they're willing to
give it a try. and when they get the quality of care we provide, they're
usually hooked. of course, it helps to be really good at what you do,
but honestly, taking care of the client's ego has way more impact than
perfection in the product.

even within the frame of 'web dev' or whatever we call what we do, if
your marketing message shows how you help folks stand out and help them
prosper even when things are tough, and then you deliver on the promise,
you can do okay.

joel