10 Top Tips to Survive the Economic Crunch by Celia Ann Rooney

Worried about your economic future? You are not alone in this roller-coaster market. But don't lose hope. There are lots of practical steps you can take to improve your situation right away. Today is the best time to start the leaner budget you've been meaning to get around to, increase your earnings, and reap savings from recycling. As the owner of two small businesses (a law firm partnership with my husband in Philadelphia and a new web-based multimedia publishing company registered in California), these tips are more than cost-cutting measures for hard times. They are also smart practical tips for achieving business success in the long term. Here they are in three areas of business management: tips for reducing costs, increasing income, and improving marketing.

1. Cut unnecessary items from your budget completely. Everyone has pork in his or her spending habits. Ask yourself as you go through a typical week each time you take out your wallet: Do I really need this (latte, pretzel, extra pair of shoes)? And for your business: Are we paying for things that we really don't need and could do without? The truth is we can all cut down to a low-fat money diet. Remember, the less you spend unwisely the more you get to keep and invest.

2. Recycle paper and replace where possible. My law partner does not throw out printouts from the computer that have mistakes and must be reprinted. He tears the pages in half, turns them to the blank side, and stacks them onto a small clipboard. Voilà! Instant note and phone message system with purely recycled paper. The leftovers go into the shredder and then the recycle bin. Small steps with big results. Look around you. The opportunities are everywhere.

3. Reduce outsourcing. If you "hire out" or outsource certain jobs in your business, consider reducing the number of jobs or contracts. This is likely a temporary cost-saving measure, but should be considered for the short run until things improve in the economy. I know that that will impact other small businesses, but you might figure out a way to barter or trade services so that you and your vendors can both cut costs.

4. Contact former and present customers for additional business. In our Pennsylvania and New Jersey law practice, our best source of new clients is our old clients. They not only keep coming back for our services but they send family members and friends as well. We are presently developing our client database so that we can send out an eNewsletter and emails to further define the services we offer and offer free general legal tips. In the meantime, when someone contacts us, we do our best to return the call and provide top quality personalized services in the best way we can. That is the best way to communicate to your customers that you care and want to help.

5. Expand to add a new product or service to your existing catalog. Another way to increase income is to add a related product or service to your current line. As primarily personal injury and workers' compensation trial lawyers, our practice has also offered our clients other legal services such as writing their wills and setting up trust funds and representation in occasional domestic or criminal matters. In the last five years, we have expanded our wills and estates department which increases income. Consider analyzing your current line for a new expansion.

6. Start a whole new subsidiary—the more income streams the merrier. Another good way to increase income directly is to start a whole new company, whether related to your main business or not. Be prepared to do your homework, whatever the new product or service is. My present two businesses of writing, which I've done all my life, and my law practice these twenty years or so, complement each other nicely. I do most of the writing and research in my firm and then I get to exercise my creative writing skills in articles like this one. The company of A New Success, LLC, which I have cofounded with my son this year, allows me to self-publish helpful articles, eBooks, and a weekly eNewsletter as well. Starting a new project like that is exciting and energizing and increases your ability to generate income in whole new ways using skills and abilities you have honed to excellence over the years.

7. Increase your marketing on the Internet. No matter how old or young you are, I encourage you to explore the possibilities of marketing on the Internet. Cyberspace is the new frontier of marketing. Happily, some of the more tedious aspects of marketing on the internet, such as "blasting" articles into many directories and websites without re-entering all the information repeatedly, have become partly automated by new companies springing up just as you need them. The young people you can educate and encourage are out there looking for you and your company, and often their parents and grandparents are looking over their shoulders!

8. Advertise your business with expert articles on the web. Writing articles using your expertise as background and sending them out on the web so that people can get a taste of who you are and what you do is a great way to bring traffic to your website and then establish a relationship. Get training if you need it or hire a ghost writer if you need more than training, but go for it. This is the age of rapidly changing information that people want to absorb and move on, so give them what you can from your own knowledge, information, experience and education. You do it for free and give it for free—it's a good way to give back to the global community and invite people to use your services or buy your products as well.

9. Get feedback from your customers with a survey. You need feedback. It's the only way to improve your products and services to bring them into line with what people want and expect. Listen to your customers. You can call them up or email a questionnaire or send a snail-mail survey.

10. Conduct research and test marketing on old and new products and services. For old products, try reaching a new internet market you have not used before or use advertising or direct mail to draw in a geographic market not far from your home base. For new products, launch them in your current catalogs both electronic and paper under the "What's New" banner. Send special marketing emails and see how many clicks you get. Search for competitors online and see how they are selling their products.

Using these top ten tips will definitely improve your business status. In these tough economic times, it's imperative to improve your small business's foundation by cutting costs, increasing income, and improving your marketing and product lines. Believe in your ability to take practical steps to weather this economic storm—that's really half the battle.