Six Tips for Small Businesses Waiting for Economic Recovery

INDIANAPOLIS, IN--(Marketwire - Aug 30, 2011) - With the global economy fluctuating and the stock market bouncing like a rubber ball, small businesses need to realize there is no such thing as "business as usual."

That's the opinion of consultant Jim Muehlhausen, CPA and author of "The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How To Avoid Them" from Emerald Publishing (www.51errors.com). He has narrowed down the reasons why small businesses tank during the lean times, and devised six basic rules that can help steer businesses clear of the pitfalls:

• Focus - Pay more attention to your business model and your business, and pay less attention to the economy. Keep your eyes on the road, and not the landscape, and you'll get where you're going.
• Don't Throw the Hail Mary - Don't make dramatic changes. Keep moving and keep working at the tasks that have traditionally helped your company succeed and don't count on that big order or some other source of instant salvation.
• Stop Fretting - This is a terrific time to tune up systems, make large time investments in future products/services that you just did not have time for when times were good. Focus on two years from now while everyone else is short-term focused.
• Buy a competitor - Now is a great time to buy weaker competitors. Prices are low and rolling their business into yours can add valuable employees and sales at bargain prices.
• It's not the economy, it's your model - The weak economy has hit businesses with weak business models MUCH harder than those with solid models. It is a sign that you need to tune up your business model.
• Ignore Web 2.0 at your peril - Yes, Web 2.0 is just as valid for B2B as it is for B2C. Web 2.0 has very little to with Facebook and Twitter. At its core, Web 2.0 is nothing more than an automated referral system. If your business does not need additional referrals, ignore Web 2.0, but beware that traditional marketing methods will continue to lose effectiveness while Web 2.0 methods will continue to improve.

About Jim Muehlhausen

Over the past eight years, Jim Muehlhausen CPA, JD has personally coached hundreds of business owners in more than 3,500 face-to-face coaching sessions and has clients in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.