Conventional “wisdom” says that when an economic storm comes in, you’re supposed to hunker down and ride the thing out.

I hate conventional wisdom.

By definition, conventional wisdom is what everyone agrees is the right thing to do. Conventional “wisdom” is really just another way of saying the thinking of the average person.

Well the average business in a recession shrinks. A number of average businesses are supposed to fail in a major recession.

I don’t know about you, but following in the footsteps of an average business kinda stinks don’t you think?

While hunkering down is the most popular reaction to an economic storm, let me suggest a far less popular (but much more profitable) alternative.

When a storm rolls in, rather than running for cover here’s what I suggest:

Get out into the storm and start selling umbrellas!

Sell extra food supplies, batteries, flash lights, rain ponchos, spare water bottles, backup power generators, and all kinds of other stuff.

There is money to be made in any economy–good or bad.

There are always winners. And there are always losers… always!

In this worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, our economy will shrink by about 5%. While this is 5 times bigger than the tiny 1% shrinkages of our last two recession, purely on math basis 95% of economic spending still remains.

So instead of $14,000,000,000,000 in spending we had a year ago, this year we “only” have $13,300,000,000,000. That’s 13.3 trillion for those who go dizzy trying to count all those zeros.

Even after the recession shrinks our economy, we will have an economy that’s still larger than that of China, Japan, United Kingdom, and Germany (the next 4 biggest economies)…COMBINED.

How much of that 13.3 trillion pie do you really need to make your goals for the year?

Forget about riding out this economic storm. Be bold. Get some courage. And get out there are sell stuff to those who want to ride out the storm. That’s where the money is made.

Examples:

Notice the theme?

People who can’t face economic reality hide in fantasy and escapism… thus fueling the sales and profits of those who can.

Sure fewer people are paying for $4 Starbucks lattes, but it doesn’t mean they’ve stopped drinking coffee does it?  They just make it at home. Money is being made in coffee right now.

Can’t afford to buy groceries, take advantage of all that dirt in your backyard and grow your own. But you gotta buy seeds. Guess what, someone is smart enough to be selling them right when you want them.

In a recession, money doesn’t disappear, it just gets spent differently. (Write that line down)

Duh, go follow the money!

It ain’t rocket science.

That’s my thought for the day.

On a personal note, I’m heading out to the airport later today to fly to New Orleans (ironic given my choice of topics for today’s email). I’ll be giving a speech at the Fortune Magazine Small Business Sales & Marketing Summit. Conventional wisdom says you’re not “supposed” to grow your business in a recession. Well, so much for conventional wisdom.

If you’ll be attending, be sure to stop by and say hi.  I’ll be sitting at the speakers table for most of the event.

One of the keys to surviving a recession is to figure out what your core business really is.

Who are your best customers? What does your business do much better than others?

Once you figure out your “core”, focus on it like crazy.

Here’s why this is a good idea.

In a recession, there is less market demand. So to maintain your personal income, you have to perform better just to offset shrinking demand.

Needless to say the difficulty level of getting your business to grow has gone way up.

You know people say you can work harder or your can work smarter. Realistically, to maintain sales/profits and especially to grow them despite the economy, you gotta do both.

When the stock markets around the world crashed last year, my first reaction was to say “uh oh”.

My second reaction was to tell my wife that “Guess my vacation’s over”–so much for my plans to coast through to the end of the year.

My third reaction was to get busy figuring out my “core”.

Which customers were my “core” customers? Who were the ones that had always bought from me in the past–and thus most likely to continue buying in the future?

Which of my services sold well with the least effort? Which of my offerings were the most relevant to my “core” customers?

In a strong economy, you can afford to experiment outside your core and stumble upon a new growth area for your business. In a declining economy, you have to play to your strong hand–your core.

I then marshalled all resources and shoved them into the core. I pulled members of my team off everything else, and put them on the core.

I shifted my time from other growth areas, and re-focused on the core. It’s all about figuring out the core, and focusing on in it relentlessly.

Frankly, it was an exhausting process. But, now my business is aligned WITH how my “core” customer’s needs–needs that have changed because of the recession.

Instead of “sailing upwind” against the economic winds, I’ve changed a lot of things around to take advantage of how the economic winds are now blowing.

So my business is now “sailing downwind” WITH the recession, instead of against it.

That’s a very big survival secret right there. I suggest you re-read that last paragraph a few times.

Once you’ve repositioned your business to take advantage of the recession, you want to work on getting more business.

If you’re a member of my recession hotline service(www.bailouthotline.com), on our conference call next Tuesday,

I’ll be talking about 9 ways to market your business in a recession for under $50 each.

These are not wimpy marketing strategies. Instead, they are highly effective strategies that happen to not cost much to execute.

Also for those of you who have requested a free copy of my book The Recession-Proof Business, the books will ship out on Monday.

So expect to receive them towards the end of the week. Thanks for your patience, especially for those who have been waiting a few weeks.

In the meanwhile, my challenge to you is to figure out who your “core” customers are.

Determine what product/services represent the “core” of your profits (which incidentally may be different than revenues).

Finally, figure out what you can do to shift resources from everything non-core to the “core”.