John Jantsch made a post on the American Express open forum about the economic stimulus, I disagree with some of his comments. Small Business really does need to take the lead, but not by lining up for their “Fair share” of the pie. If we do that, it is just back to the same old thing. Does anyone feel anything different, right now? I have even heard some state funding is on hold waiting to see what they get from the stimulus package, HUH! As quick as government acts, the recession might be over with before the funding gets started.
I think Small Business and even ourselves needs to lead through innovation and entrepreneurship.
Examples:
- I talked to someone yesterday that was offered to buy his job, they would even fund him. I thought that it was an attractive alternative, someone else may not, because they want the security of someone else watching out for them.
- I wrote a recent blog post on looking at the Financial markets to lead us out of the recession. I said to look what industries are receiving tax credits in the stimulus. As a result they will have a positive outlook. Repackage your products to serve that segment.
- Become active in social media. I have been promoting the need to participate in social media and building your contact base in LinkedIn and others. It seems to be not one place people go to find out about a candidate but the 1st place. Just think if you were already connected in your target market, had commented on a company’s blog and followed them on twitter. How comfortable would you be in that interview? Maybe more importantly, how comfortable would the employer be?
Should small business step up and ask for a slice of the pie? No, I think small business needs to lead and make themselves the “ONLY” alternative for the funding. Washington will follow public support or the latest poll, maybe. But if we take hold of the economy and make it our responsibility to succeed the money will follow. A saying I recently read in Tribes by Seth Godin, from Emmanuelle Heyman, sums up my opinion: “I’m not sure where I’m going. I’ll lead!”
I could not agree more that we need to “lead through innovation and entrepreneurship.” The business climate has changed – customer demand more, employers are demanding more out of thier employees.
I hope it never goes back to exactly the way it was. Innovation, to me, is about looking at new ways to interact with our clients and find new ways to really help them grow thier business. We can learn a lot from the past, so lets try no to relive our mistakes.
The future is bright. Today is an opportunity for everyone to be just a little bit better than we were before.