It is obvious to all that winter is coming here.  It is apparent from the sub freezing temperatures, the frost covered windows and the above picture, which shows what freezing fog does to a lonely spider web. 

The icing over I am talking about is more serious, it is the freezing over of the economy.  Being somebody who is self employed means this can have a HUGE impact on my business.  The impact has been minimal for now but who knows what the future holds?

This post will have nothing to do with the three quarters of a Trillion dollars which has been stolen from us allocated to save a bunch of banks which in turn are sitting on it, or using it for things other than it’s intended used.  This post is more about how the economy downturn can effect business and how you should react to it.

Luckily my primary business is fixing problems that happen with computers, networks, printers, etc etc.  Since things still break during a recession, my business has been mostly unaffected.  However, I also go around to most of my client’s offices and sit down at each computer every month and just make sure everything is running smoothly.  I call it maintenance and it is mostly making sure everything is working and updating as it should.  This is what I call proactive service because I have found and fixed probably thousands of issues before they became a problem over the years. 

Well this month I have had two clients ask me to hold off doing this until after the start of their fiscal year which is 2-4 months away.  Now this won’t break me since these clients do not have but a handful of computers each but it does make a person a bit unsettled.  I can understand why they are doing this, after all they have to keep the doors open after all and we all know how hard that will be for the next few months at least.  Luckily these clients are not in retail sales, those are the people I feel sorry for during this time.

So what next?

The first thing you have to realize in this kind of situation is that the problem is not you.  For most people it is very easy to take things like this personally and have their feelings hurt.  A decision like this is made purely from a money stand point.  How do you know?  Well it is pretty easy if you are at all good with people.  You can tell when people are pleased with your work and when they are not.  Now I have never gotten a single bad “vibe” from them.  This tells me that they are very happy with the service I offer.  It also tells me that when/if things break in the meantime, they will still be calling me to take care of it.  I know that when things turn up, things will go back to how they were.

So I miss out on a few bucks over the next few months, big deal.  The relationship with my clients and the people around town is FAR more important than the money I will not make over the next few months.  Just to give an example of that, I have never advertised for my business.  All of my advertising has been done word of mouth, which is the best kind!  Now if i was to get all upset about this, I might ruin this relationship and possibly, through word of mouth, lose MUCH MUCH more.  It is as Donald Trump said, “Business is Business.”

 How will it all turn out?

Well the recession is here, is time to admit it and move on.  This Christmas season will probably be the worst in a decade or more, that is almost a guarantee.  From what the talking heads on MSNBC say, it will be getting worse before it gets better.  This is like an amusement park ride, you just need to strap in and ride it.  Sure the ride is exciting as it is going down but eventually you start to worry where the bottom of the ride is.  Once you reach the bottom, will it be a flat boring track or an exciting up turn pulling you to the sky?  Well I don’t know and neither do people FAR smarter than myself.  That is the danger and thrill of the economy, you just never know what is going to happen.

Other things 

I have not really talked about my photography a whole lot lately but I will mention a few things here.  I have a number of photos in my mind but have nobody to help me make them.  Rarely does anybody pay you to make the kinds of pictures you want, they pay you to make the pictures THEY want.  I have been thinking about this for a while but an article on strobist has kind of nudged me over the edge.  The only way you can make the kinds of pictures you REALLY want, is to do it for free.  Therefore I am going to be roaming around downtown with my camera and a little equipment and hopefully some people will let me shoot them to make some great images.  I even will provide the person with a full resolution, license free file which they can use for whatever they choose. 

This will help me do a few things: the first being building my portfolio for free.  The second being these people will get some GREAT pictures that they can use for whatever they choose, pictures they normally would never get.  Lastly, it will help get my name out there and floating around which, as I said above, is a VERY good thing when it comes to advertising.

Well I am going to hit the publish button and go back to paying the bills.  This being my longest post to date will hopefully generate some interest.  Feel free to comment below, in fact I BEG you to comment below