I recently interviewed Ridgely Evers for an upcoming magazine article. Evers talked; I was going to intently listen and hope whatever wisdom he’d dispense, I’d internalize. After all, Evers created the famed accounting software, QuickBooks, shortly after going to work for Intuit in 1988. (I’m guessing he must have fun when he goes to his high school reunions.)
So after I finished our interview, I started up another one, specifically for WalletPop, and asked him if he had any advice for any of our readers who own small or medium-sized businesses and are worried about surviving this recession, or economic meltdown, or whatever we’re in.
And here’s what he had to say.”I’d suggest three things. First, you want to tighten your existing relationship with your customers. I’m a big believer in small businesses knowing their customers, and that’s an advantage you have over the bigger companies. They have to hire a greeter to stand at your door. You can be there yourself.
Secondly, you should eliminate your costs wherever you can, but make sure you retain your best employees. And thirdly, you should take this time to invest in technology to automate everything you can, and that will sound a little bit self-serving…”
Evers continued, “Two really bad things that can happen in a recession when you’re up and running a business, and one is that you’re spending more on operating your business than you’re bringing in, and two, that you lose employees that you don’t want to lose, which can be deadly because the data that your business depends on lives in people’s heads, and so when you lose those people, you lose that data.” NetBooks, asserts Evers, will help quash that problem.
Photo by NetBooks.
Anthony Donnelly on March 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Yet another sterling article. I love this blog and the engaging articles you discover Dane.
One major business tool Ridgely Evers overlooked as an excellent cost-saving tool during a recessional period is obviously barter.
As economies crash and hence the cash flowing in the marketplace slows (people spend less on luxuries, as we’re seeing the statistics showing right now: restaurants alone are seeing a 30% drop in people eating out!) barter becomes an even more effective way to stay in business and cuts costs.
My company, Merchants Barter Exchange (MBE), is currently assisting many of our members get a multitude of goods and services by trading surplus inventory, time, or capacity for them. Barter has stood the test of many thousands of years for a very good reason: it’s not a fad, it’s a proven business tool, and can be extremely effective if done in a controlled and secure environment like an ethical barter company like MBE.
Again, great article and good content. But don’t overlook the simple and obvious economic systems available to most businesses.