5 Ways to Avoid the Effects of Recession

The problem with recessions is that many people begin to feel insecure about their jobs and income. And this time round, with the levels of personal debt at all time highs combined with the falls in home equity values, feelings of insecurity are likely to be stronger than usual.

That usually sends people into 'survival' mode and that, often, is the worst mode to be in.

So how can we prepare ourselves for a recession?

Make ourselves independent of our employers by developing, improving or reviving some personal skill that we can sell to others.

We all have some personal knowledge or experience that would be useful to others. Even if we've been employed in the corporate world all our working lives, we will have developed knowledge and expertise that we can provide to others on a consultancy or freelance basis.

Some examples:

* If we've been an administrative assistant we could use our MS Office skills to offer copy typing or resume production services to others on a freelance basis. In fact any kind of document production service, but resumes are usually in demand during recessions.

* If we've been in marketing or sales we can offer our services to small businesses on a commission only basis. This gives us the opportunity to provide marketing or sales services for 2 or 3 different businesses at the same time, if necessary.

* If we've been working in IT or on maintaining the company website we could offer website design services to small off line businesses. I wrote a separate article on this subject a while ago.

The trick is to identify what services you could provide to others. And if you can't identify any then you should take the opportunity now, before hard times hit, to develop some skills and knowledge that you could provide professionally.

Mike Dillard has just launched a website about how to build a business on a budget. One of his key messages is that if you have limited resources invest them in the way that will get you the best return. Like acquiring knowledge.

Once you have knowledge no one can take it away from you. It's your knowledge, which you carry in your head - so you'll always be able to fall back on it.

There are other advantages to acquiring new knowledge too.

I said above that you should make yourself independent of your employer. That does not mean you should leave your employer. It means putting yourself into a position so that if your employer downsizes you you're not left without options.

If you do learn new skills and get new knowledge you'll become more valuable to your employer - increasing your chances of avoiding the chop. And you'll always have the opportunity of turning that into a business of your own if you choose.

So what skills do you have and what skills do you need in order to sell your services as a freelancer or contractor..?

For example: If you're a programmer, an engineer or some other technical specialist, you may need to develop your sales and marketing skills so you're better at getting new business. If you're a good writer maybe you should team up with a more techie person.

Identify the skills you have and identify the skills you would need in order to provide services on a freelance basis and make sure you're fully prepared.

So - how to prepare for a recession? Here are 5 things you can do:

1. Identify the particular skills or experience you have that you could provide to others on a freelance basis.

2. Identify who would want to use the skills you have - and how to let them know about the services you can provide.

3. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Strengthen your weaknesses.

4. If necessary, identify who you could team up with to make your offer stronger - someone whose strengths complement yours. Be sure to work out a very clear agreement as to how you'll work together in order to avoid disputes later.

5. Develop a practical, achievable plan and take all the steps necessary to make sure you can put it into action quickly if the need arises.

And if you do start your own business be sure to keep good records from the start. You'll need to report your income to the tax people and pulling all the details together at tax filing time is not fun.

And if you don't go independent you'll have made yourself even more valuable to your employer - which will be to your benefit too.