I got back late last night from New Orleans where I gave a keynote speech for Fortune Magazine’s Small Business Sales & Marketing Summit.

I flew in on Sunday night to hear the other speakers and to get a better feel for the audience. And I ended up spending 10 hours revise my talk and rehearsing it to better fit the audience, time slot, and format for the event.

So sadly, I did not end up making it to Cafe Dumond (will have to wait for next time).

But, I did come up with a story that I share with the 150 CEOs in the room about how to survive this recession. It was a last minute addition to my talk and I think it made the point I wanted to get across. So I thought I’d share the story with you.

When an economic storm rolls in, most people run for cover, hide, and try to ride the storm out.  This is a natural human instinct and if you know for sure the storm will be short, it’s a reasonable thing to do.

But if you need the storm has the potential to be a long one, you don’t want to hide from the change in conditions… you want to take advantage of it.

So in my best (okay mediocre) attempt at being a drill sergeant, I started yelling at the group of CEO’s to stop being a bunch of wussy pansies. (And amazingly I did not get thrown out of the room)

When it starts to rain, you don’t run and hide.

You get your rear-end out there and start selling umbrellas! Sell food rations. Sell bottled water. Sell bus tickets to somewhere dry. Sell the stuff people want when it’s raining.

Crisis creates opportunity.

The morale of the story is that even in storm, people still have money–but what they care about and what they spend money on changes. The key to ensuring your business survives and even prospers is to sell what people want to buy right now.

Do NOT what they used to buy. Don’t sell what you think theyneed. Just sell what they want to buy at this precise moment in time.

It seems simple enough… sell what people want to buy. But, as I am fond of saying, under times of extreme stress and pressure, common sense is the first thing that goes out the window.

Don’t let it!

Be brutally honest with yourself. Ask yourself, are you selling the products and services your customers want to buy? (If you’re not sure, check your bank balance. It doen’t lie)

If you’re not or if your only partly selling what customers are buying, go talk to your customers and figure out what they want right now. It’s a great place to start.

23 year old Joe Steffy suffers from autism, down syndrome, and is unable to use his voice to communicate.

In school, his teachers told his parents that Joe would never live an independent life and certainly could never run a business.

Of course, this just irritate Joe to no end.

Today, Joe runs his own business making Kettle popcorn that he sells to local retailers and local events. 2005 sales were $16k, 2008 sales were $50k. His goal for the next three years is to double sales to $100k per year.

You might not find these numbers are inspiring, but I find his determination humbling.

In case you’re wondering how he sells new retail partners on carrying his product, he brings with him his laptop with a computer assisted speech device that helps him communicate.

How much you wanna bet that Joe’s not going to let no stinkin recession slow him down.

Here’s the article in case you’re curious:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090403/ts_usnews/how1autisticyoungmanrunsabusiness

In life and especially in a recession, you get what you expect.

The music CD from her toddler music program was playing in the background. She leaned against the wall with one hand, stood on one leg, and was swinging the other leg back and forth to the beat of the music.

She was so proud of herself, grinning from ear-to-ear indelight. I thought she wanted me to copy her, so I started to and she got very grumpy very quickly.

I quickly realized she just wanted me to watch, so I did until her little performance was done.

She was so happy.

Afterwards I realized that in her world she has no idea there’s a recession going on.

She has no clue it’s the worst recession in 75 years. In her world, she’s got a roof overhead, food to eat, parents that love her, an older sister to play with (who from time to time does torture her, but her life can’t be 100% perfect), and with lots of opportunities for smiles and giggles all day long.

In her world, life is pretty good.

And its at that moment, I realize that taken the by the standards of a two year old, life is actually pretty good for alot of people–recession or not.

Her expectations about life are innocently focused on the basics. Many people, myself included, could use a reminder about that every once in a while.

I personally tend to be a forward thinker – what do I need to do tomorrow, next month, a year from now to get to where I want to go in life. I know a lot of people who are historical dwellers.

What happened to the good old days? And dwell unproductively on the past.

I know very few adults who are present-oriented… where they focus on right now, this second, this moment. I try to do to this, but it takes a conscious effort to be “present” as it is not my natural instinct.

But this instinct is natural for a “recession-proof” toddler.

And if you want to have a recession-proof moments in your life, try being “present” and enjoying the basics that we all already have, but often take for granted.