Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I wouldn`t panic too much. The government isn`t exactly efficient and is far from profitable. Therefore the idea that the post office is cutting back a day isn`t surprising in the least to me. If the post office is losing money with each envelope they deliver to begin with, it is only a matter of time before some form of action would need to be taken, recession or not.

You did mention something very interesting that you should take a second look at with a different lens: "Through rain or snow or dark of night". This is an example of branding that the post office used to market their reliability and it actually stuck with you. You believed it, which means their slogan was very successful in portraying an image of reliability, even in the throes of a recession.

I think this is important to keep in mind when putting together the branding for your magazine. If the economy is looking grim, just make sure your brand and marketing is that much stronger and you should do fine.

Worrying is fine, but being prepared and learning from the loss of others is even better.

Good luck.



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Motivation for Entrepreneurs
Entre-Propel.com

how do most subscribers find out about your mag? is the internet a big part of your business? thank god to technology marketing doesnt have to be that expensive anymore, if at all.  lots of ways you can make noise on the internet w/o spending a fortune.

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I believe that marketing should not be axed and a business owner should always allocate money to push his or her products to the public. With the recession, the best way that business owners can do is to find alternate marketing sources. The Web can provide good visibility but TV and print still dominates the advertising industry.


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Paul Benavides
Business writer / dreamer
Learning business ideas through communication
Profits4Idiots

Yes, everyone is cutting back. But the real question is WHY is everyone cutting back? A secondary question, although not as obvious, is "cutting back from What?"

Looking at economic data for the past half century, it`s entirely clear that with the initiation of credit-card and debt spending/financing, people began buying more than they could afford. Despite decades of warnings, it`s almost impossible to resist the temptation of having something now and not waiting until you have the cash.

The result was never-ending inflation. Old-school economics (c. 1930s) tells us that a bit of inflation is okay, and if it gets too high, increase interest rates and generate a recession. With lowering spending, lower interest rates and "fix" the recession.

The sad thing is that over 80 years, the net result has been a basically upward movement in all prices, and a drop in productivity.

So a pound of butter today costs $2.50, where 50 years ago it would have cost $.30. A good salary back in the 60s would have been around $10,000/year. Today, starting salaries are around $40,000.

The coming collapse is actually a major, global price adjustment. The bigshots are worried about "deflation." That`s when prices keep going down, down, down. People don`t spend or buy things because they know that prices will be lower next week.

Isn`t that what retailers and technology companies have been training us toward for the past 40 years? "Don`t buy this today unless you need it, because it`ll be on sale later. Or it`ll be cheaper later."

You`re not living in an isolated vacuum. EVERYbody is going to be reducing spending. ALL prices will fall. Debt-spending will likely collapse entirely, but that doesn`t mean there won`t be cash.

What it comes down to is that "instant success" won`t be that easy to find, and "salary expectations" will likely be disappointing. But that doesn`t mean you can`t make money, nor that your money won`t buy the things you want. It only means you`ll have to use cash.

So too with everybody else. Restaurants will still want customers, but they won`t be able to offer as much variety, and the prices will be lower. At the same time, the cost of electricity, heat, cooking stoves, and staff will reduce.

Eventually, we`ll end up where you can buy a meal at half or less of today`s prices. But you`ll still need a restaurant, staff, utilities, customers, and food. And people will still want to buy a meal. Maybe not every day of the week, but once a week instead.

Very nice post Craig!!

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Looking to form connections for new business ventures. Eager to learn more for other entrepreneurs.