Post #1000: Survive, Adjust, Emerge, Succeed. We Know The Way!
I am amazed to be here now, writing my 1000th blog post! It is such a momentous number, three and a half years in the making. In light of accomplishing this feat I have stopped to think… what do I want to say to my readers in this 1000th post?
Here it is:
Small business owners are now confronted by the greatest economic challenge experienced since the great depression. Millions are out of work, millions of homes are in foreclosure. There is no credit available, everything is costing more… it’s a disaster for millions.
In 2009, 1.5 million businesses closed. Many filed bankruptcy. The number of bankruptcy filings, both for businesses and individuals, is record-breaking. Times are tough for many small business owners. In fact, in my recollection it has never been worse.
Despite the grim situation many are in, we have answers. We have successfully helped hundreds of small business owners who are already in default or are quickly approaching it, in harm’s way, facing total financial disaster. We’ve helped them emerge successfully, with their debt forgiven, personal guaranties reduced to affordable losses, business assets preserved and ready for second chance. Wow. Yes, it’s fairly unbelievable and utterly amazing, but this is what we do.
The most frequent comment I receive after explaining what we can do for a borrower in default is this: “It’s too good to be true.” I so often hear, “You strip the debt off the business, reduce the personal guaranty to pennies on the dollar, with no tax consequences from the forgiveness and no credit issues reducing my score? Wow, it’s too good to be true.”
It does seem to good to be true, yet we do this time after time, year after year. Is it a small miracle? No! Just great strategies honed from 30 years of working out debt, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Yet, many prefer to “wait and see” what will happen, preferring to do nothing and await the disaster that is sure to come. Sadly, most business owners we speak with take this position. If only more of them would give us an opportunity to show them the way. How unfortunate, how unnecessary.
We have a strategy that I call The Four Pillars:
1. Downsize and tighten up the ship. You must manage far more effectively to succeed.
2. Reinvent your business model. Adjust for today’s economic conditions and market changes.
3. Do your debt workout. Debt must be forgiven to survive. You cannot carry the load you used to support, the revenues are gone.
4. Use the Internet to market effectively.
There is no reason that any small business cannot make these adjustments, not only to survive, but to emerge more powerful than ever before. Follow these guidelines and be ready to succeed, to win again, and to run your business effectively and profitably.
Yahoo! Hallelujah!!! Life can be good again. Call us.
