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When
the going gets tough, the tough get going!
What are you going to do? |
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It's
official. Challenging times are upon us. The easy money
is gone and customers and clients alike are now watching
every nickel. The orders and requests for services and
products are not coming in like they were just 12 months
ago. So... What's the answer?
Quit? Go get a job? Blame others? Blame Bush? Blame
Obama? Whine? Give up? Move in with our parents? No
way!
All
of the above are unacceptable solutions to the quality
small business owner. None of the above do your business
any good either. A strong entreprenuer will not entertain
such options. I have good news. MOST of our GMS Network
has not entertained such options either. I am very proud
to be associated with such a determined group and I
have put together some solutions that are much more
proactive than those mentioned above. |
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GOOD
NEWS! Recessions provide opportunities if you are willing
to roll up your sleeves and look for them.
The
first thing to note about a recession is that is does an excellent
job of weeding out weak business owners. A weak business owner
folds his cards at the first sign of problems and money issues
rather than finding solutions. This is actually GOOD NEWS
for the rest of us. Why? Because although the pie is getting
smaller, so are the amount of business owners eating the pie!
Our advice... Keep fighting for your piece of the pie!
This is the beauty of the marketplace! Entreprenuers EMBRACE
challenges because that is when they shine most. If there
are 50 restaurants on a block and half of them go out of business,
it actually provides opportunity for the ones that remain.
The other portion of this opportunity is that it gives us
ALL the opportunity to get back to our core focus. Economic
slowdowns force us to get back to our cores and circle the
wagons around our current valued customer bases. This is another
blessing in disquise. Most of us are doing this and I applaud
those who are and encourage those who aren't to do so.
So... After we come to understand that downturns are going
to happen and that we are going to have to be tough enough
to ride out the down cycles, we can get back to focusing on
solutions that will help us best ride out the storms. GMS
is here for you! We cant help in all areas of marketing, but
we can assist with affordable graphic design, logo development,
web and network marketing solutions as well as limited print
services.
GMS Member Examples:
Here are a few things that are definitely working well right
now! This is NOT a sales pitch, but rather affordable solutions
that GMS offers with flexible no interest in-house financing
options available to all GMS Members. However, even if you
use another source, we recommend you doing all or a combination
of the following:
1) Don't have a site? Get one ASAP! Businesses that are not
viewable on the web are the ones that are struggling the most.
The yellow pages simply don't work like they used to. Customers
look online first! So, do your business a favor - Get Online!
Here are a couple recent sites we have launched.
| New
Site |
Problem
solved |
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Our
beloved Lori Cohen (Added Hands) just opened a new business
- Bleach Bright
Site launched 3/15/09 |
2) Re-evaluate your existing website. The web is always changing.
Hardware is always changing. A site that looked good 6 or
7 years ago may need a facelift. Monitor sizes and standard
resolutions have also changed. Here is an example of a recent
before and after: |
| Old
Site |
New
Site |
Problem
solved |
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Old
site was very "blah". Creative companies need
a creative face.
Info has remained the same, but what a difference! |
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3) Search Engine Submissions - If your site meets your satisfaction,
make sure you let the world (at least your local community)
know about it! Don't underestimate the power of the web. Use
it to your advantage. We are receiving excellent results for
SEO's lately. If you are interested in costs and strategies,
please email us! If we built your site, we discount this service
$200. If we didn't, we still will finance the service to make
it affordable.
4) Business Cards - Make sure your cards match your site and
are top notch quality. We are now providing biz cards design
(no setup fee for GMS Members) and shipping is free on your
first set of 1000 cards. Examples? See below. Click the card
to view their site! See, they match! |
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5)
Get involved as much as possible. We have another 2 events
planned right around the corner in addition to the monthly
breakfasts. The first is a bonus GMS Meeting at our office
for lunch. Karen Cardenas, owner of i
Cook u Eat is going to provide a wonderful lunch menu
for us. The date for this event is April 17th and is open
to all GMS Members who have not been able to attend a breakfast
in the past. Should the demand be as expected, we will add
more luncheon's accordingly. RSVP
HERE for lunch or breakfast.
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The
racing this year has been limited due to some
crazy weather. Snow in March, and thunderstorms
in February didnt
help. However, we are off to PA this weekend
and will let you know how things go.
The
really neat thing is that we have a awesome
spring and summer of racing planned and
we are hoping to qualify for
Regionals later in April.
Brian
Smith, our Pro Rider has decided to race
age classes instead of bike classes to obtain
more exposure. |
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The
GMS racing team would like to again thank all
of our sponsors for their support. The generosity
they have showed over the years is truly remarkable.
We are going to be redecorating our conference
room this spring and our sponsors will be a
big part of that redecoration. In addition, in
late April, early May, we will be holding our
first
sponsor dinner.
Please click on the banner ads below to find out
more about these businesses. Without their
help, none of this would be possible.
Everyone is always welcome to come out and watch.
Most of the races are out of town, but
when there is a race at Englishtown, we will let
you know. Good food is always "near the
gear", so come on out!
Hope
to see you at the races!
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