How To Beat The Recession Part II: Five Points Of View

by John R. SedivycloseAuthor: John R. Sedivy Name: John R. Sedivy
Email: john@capecodbranding.com
Site: http://www.capecodbranding.com
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Introduction

In Part I of this series I had identified a recent New York Times article which perceived Cape Cod to be operating counter to the regular economy. This seemed the perfect opportunity to introduce our story as how Amy and I ended up on Cape Cod and what our opinion of the Cape is in comparison to that portrayed in this article. Yesterday I had provided the background of our decision to relocate to Cape Cod and the advantages of living here. Today I will delve into the Times article and contrast it with my experience.

Cape Cod Upbeat

The basis of this article is that a survey of five random business owners on Cape Cod found them all in good spirits despite the economy. According to the Times article “all said they were looking for angles to exploit in a slumping economy, and all contended that no matter how bad things got, they would do just fine.” I will not take the time to outline the entire article here, as I have provided the link should you want to read the two page article, however I will pull out five important points of entrepreneurship that resonated with me: 1. Six figure incomes are being made despite the economy – Check out the profile of Bruce Davis in the referenced article for proof 2. “People who put their heart into their work always have work” – Stephen Sullivan, owner of Feathers and Fur in Dennis MA 3. “My ace in the hole is that I can do just about anything, I do what I say I’m going to do and I’m not afraid of hard work.” – Ron Landry, owner of  R.E. Landry Construction Company in Forestdale, MA 4. Success may be attributed to “giving better service than people expect” and loving what you do – Symen Kooy, owner of Blossom Florist And Gifts of Dennis, MA 5. “I won’t go back to punching a clock.” – Ellen Massa, owner of Professional Nurse and Home Care of Cape Cod

The common thread among all five respondents is their positive attitude. Anyone who has ever come into contact with a true entrepreneur knows to what I am referring – the never say die attitude which seems to nearly defy all logic. When I had first met Amy it was the first time I had encountered this, and really I am still wrapping my arms around it. Amy has such a strong, positive spirit where failure is not an option regardless of environment or circumstance. Sure many people talk, however the conviction of her talk and actions impressed me from day one – and I have found this to be a common denominator among entrepreneurs.

Solid Incomes Despite A Recession

I found the highlighted story of Bruce Davis interesting. Here is an individual who made nearly 200K this year in rodent control and stocks no less. The rodent control I can certainly see. In less than my first month here on the Cape I had a skunk enter underneath the house in the basement. Not only that, the skunk must have been by the furnace during the first evening when the heat started, which proceeded to spread skunk odor throughout the house. I did not realize what had happened until I awoke to the strong smell at 4 AM – needless to say I would have paid anything to get that skunk out of there. The other aspect of his business, which he does simultaneously is short selling stock. His bet is that a given stock will go down faster than it will go up. Not such a bad bet given the recent state of things! The point here is not how he is making money, it is that he is making a decent income given the perception of the economy.

It’s All About Heart

I have found Stephen Sullivan’s statement about heart to be true. People can sense when you are trying with all your ability and can also sense when you just don’t care. I like to surround myself with people with plenty of “heart” and who care about the service they are providing, on the other hand I try to minimize the number of people within my circle who have an attitude of apathy. Find what you love to do and do it with all your heart – people will notice and you will be rewarded.

Flexibility Is Key

Ron Laundry attributes flexibility to his success and I agree that this is an important attribute. I have found success in my career due to having more breadth than depth of knowledge, or in other words, knowing a little about everything. This is generally counter culture and in the past I have been chastised for this by more specialized individuals. However for me it has always worked out. Who do you think has an easier time in the present economy; the person with deep knowledge in one area or the person with a little knowledge in many areas? Check out “Quitting To Win” by Steve Pavlina for an interesting perspective.

Service Orientation
There is no doubt that we are in a service oriented culture. Symen Kooy attributes his success to giving better service than people expect, and in doing so my guess is that he gathers many repeat customers. A key reason that I use Apple computers is because of their service orientation. Prompt, consistent, respectful service will keep customers coming back for more. Exceed expectations – always.

Do What You Say
Ron Landry gave three indicators of his success:

1. The ability to do just about anything
2. Doing what he says he is going to do
3. Not being afraid of hard work

We already discussed the importance of flexibility. Hard work, although important is not the end all in my opinion. I have always enjoyed the saying “work smarter, not harder”. Anything worthwhile generally requires some degree of hard work to get it going or off the ground – especially a business. However, the end goal should be to get it to a point where you are lessening the amount of work required to generate the same amount of output – increasing efficiency and therefore effectiveness. Refer to The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss for more on lessening your workload by automating processes.

People talk. Many do not perform half as well as they talk. I’m not sure why, but this is just the way of the world. How many people do you know of that do what they say? Consistently? Are they dependable? Some have no intention to deliver from the start. Others have good intentions but do not know themselves. Christopher Hodapp the author of “Freemasons For Dummies” quotes Michael Richards: “When you go into our lodge, on the back of the Tyler’s chair are the words ‘Know Thyself.’ That is important. That is the ultimate message to all Masons: truly know who you are.” Wise advice – if you do not know yourself, how can you expect others to know you?

Avoid Clock Punching
The final attribute listed was that conveyed by Ellen Massa – “I won’t go back to punching a clock.” This is in my opinion probably the single largest motivator of all entrepreneurs, they want to be the boss and simply cannot work for anyone else. They would sooner starve than work for another. Once an entrepreneur has tasted freedom it is a difficult thing to give up and true entrepreneurs will not do so without a fight.

In the referenced New York Times article which this series is based upon, Michael Alter, the President of SurePayroll (the organization who conducted the survey of entrepreneurs) was asked to explain why the sudden rebound in opinion concerning the economy. His response was that “Entrepreneurs are by definition more creative and more resilient than big companies. They’ve been struggling with the economic downturn since September, and now they’ve figured out ways to deal with it.” To entrepreneurs the choice is simple, either find a way of generating income or go work for another company or person – the choice is always the former.

To Be Continued…
In the next article I will compare my experience with that outlined in the New York Times Article. I will also discuss why it is important to make your own weather.

Entrepreneurs share a common set of characteristics that make them well suited for success!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

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