Sunday, May 04. 2008
I am one of 11 children. My mother was a saint...and a field marshall, an enforcer, a motivator, a mediator, a CFO, and a CEO. I often find myself using her sayings from the hills of Kentucky with my son, and believe it or not, in my business life too.
"You can wear the same pants and get happy" was her way of communicating that things were not going to change so you better deal with it.
"Let your vittles stop your mouth" was her favorite at the dinner table...translation...quit talking and start eating. She had plenty of those sayings.
So, as I consider a strategy for today's economy, "just tend to your knitting" came to mind. Translation... quit worrying about all the other stuff and do what you are supposed to be doing. I know it sounds a little weird but bear with me.
My advice is to focus on the details of what you do best, and to quit worrying about what might happen someday if someone does something to somebody, somewhere else... Just tend to your knitting.
Presidential elections always bring bad news in the media. Mudslinging and negative ads seem to win elections and our current election cycle has been going on for two years! That is a long time to have a steady diet of bad news and hopefully November will end it (barring any hanging chads). Candidates focus on discontent to win elections, because change requires discontent at some level. That doesn't mean that everything is all that bad... it's politics.
Speaking of politics and bad news, our Florida legislative session is underway and we have heard for a year how bad the budget situation is for Florida. For almost a year we have been waitng to see what might be decided by our lawmakers... and soon we will know. We have survived bad budget years before, and I believe that our state have been in "pause mode" for a year just waiting to see what happens, and how bad it might be... and as we look around...and wait... and listen to the bad news... we pause. We begin to plan for what might happen, and what might be, and we begin to create our own downturn.
Lastly, Central Florida has experienced a huge expansion of our local economy in the last few years. Jobs, construction projects, housing prices, and business opportunity has exploded during the past few years. Did you think that we would not need to catch our breath at some point? Our economy was in a sprint, and we are running a marathon as a business community... so as we catch our breath, we need to use this time to tune up our businesses, focus on profit, look for creative opportunites in our current situation, and... as mom would say, "stick to our knitting!"