*Corporate Losses *
These two words are the stuff of headline stories today. Even the elevators in NYC have the top stories playing to remind everyone of all the twist and turns our economy has taken. Even if you have not been directly affected, the amount of coverage pulls you in emotionally and you find yourself nodding your head NO each time another story is told. And it’s not just the US it’s everywhere!
Anyone with an stake in the stock market at this point is on wait mode. In a matter of days we'll get the latest financial statements from companies serving crucial economic sectors like construction, computer chips and household goods. Only the numbers will say if the bloodletting has stopped or finally winding down. This means we can be marking either a turning point right now or simply passing through another stretch of the global doldrums. Despite the recent generally positive curve of the stock markets in US and Asia, there's a lot of lost ground to cover, and there's the simmering sense of shocks happening further down the road.
There's only one way to go: invest in confidence! A change in perspective is perhaps the most effective way to break our current feedback loop of fear and falling indicators. Reading the market's mood will help us coordinate our actions, but turning the economy around all starts on the ground, one business at a time. It's a time to keep a phrase in mind; after touching bottom is only the upturn!
*Consumer Fears*
The gloomiest outlook for the global economy in 35 years may be forcing many of us to live with what we have on hand and start saving up for the things we really want, and all of that for the first time ever.
A growing number of anxious people across all income segments are shopping at less expensive stores, reacquainting themselves with the library, paying down credit card debt and cutting back on new clothes and cars, vacations and meals out. The psychology of the consumer has turned as worries heighten about the job market, the slump in real estate and rising daily living costs.
It’s true people have been hunkering down for the ongoing financial storm, but these are also times that consumers get creative. Frippery and wasteful ways fly out the window while people think up new ways of getting to work, keeping the house and family, and spending their free time.
Split couples sharing apartments, families moving nearer to downtown to bike around instead of drive, smaller hybrid-fuel cars entering the market, designer bags for rent rather than on sale; these are tidbits of change in how we live right now. Step by step, our response to gloomy conditions are encouraging more sustainable arrangements with nature, a more nuanced take on material goods and innovations in the way we do business.
For anyone who’s in business today, the opportunities are there in customers who need good reasons to move beyond their worries. Their needs and wants haven’t vanished like paper statements; they’ve come together in unexpected ways and entrepreneurs need only find what they’ve been looking for lately.
The products and services and the businesses providing them that will last through the doldrums are those which continue to give the most benefit at least cost. Value is the Holy Grail of customers everywhere. Welcome to the challenge of providing quality for less!
While the governments of the G20 club are working overtime to bring back equilibrium to the world’s credit flows and save entire industries, businesses have to take charge of tapping consumer fears and transforming them into something far more productive: consumer wants!
*Balance Work and Personal Life*
If only cutting out stress from your life was just one keyboard away! Stress of course is one of life’s spices. It's a little dash of interest which keeps your day from melting into sheer boredom. But it’s hard to think of anyone who’ll complain about not having enough stress in their life; if anything, most people can never thank you enough if you just send a little respite their way. To keep the stress blues away, you should be able to cope with demands that work, home and friends make on you. Here are some tips we have gathered to help keep your work and personal life in balance:
1) Heed those burn-out signals: are you counting minutes on the clock, fending off conversations at work, or enduring body aches and pains? Then it’s high time to do any of the following:
*Say NO to additional commitments at work, after work or at home.
*Shake up your current routine:
change your work schedule if possible; find a new route to get to the office, hang out in a new place.
*Rediscover your mojo. Remember the things that used to excite you about going to work.
*If necessary, redefine for yourself the things that truly matter to you.
*Simplify: drop commitments that do not fit your goals at work. That gives you time and space for the things that do matter for you.
2) Go on leave: if you’ve been used to your employees stocking up on their leaves throughout the year to cash them out, or if you’re one of those employees, take a couple of weeks off this year! Have a peek at these benefits:
*You’ll help buoy up your company’s financial sheets by reducing deductibles!
*You can take a vacation to unwind, recharge, and cultivate your life’s other aspects!
*You’ll be keeping a lot of industries going with your travel expenses, so go ahead and take the plunge!
3) Get help from the experts: Granted, it may seem like a better idea these days to try and do-over the bedroom yourself rather than hire a painter, but there are lots of other things you would definitely feel better leaving in experienced hands. If you’re juggling life at work and outside of work, try these:
*Help is near: start leaning on your partner, relatives and close buddies to fill in rough spots in your day. Helping each other out and taking turns are still the best recipes for warm personal bonds. Farm out tasks you need done to the right people at work.
*Talk to a counselor: if you find yourself facing crossroads in your work or personal life, a mentor’s words can help you sound out the best path you can take. Take at least half the worry out of decision making by going over the pros and cons with someone you can trust, and someone who is willing to take the bigger view outside your own thought clouds.