DO NOT KILL OUR ECONOMY WITH UNTESTED PREMISES

During the 1930's there was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs. He stood at the side of the road and cried: "Buy a hot dog, mister?" And people bought. He increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade.

Business was so good he brought his son home from college early to help him out. And his son said: "Father, haven't you been listening to the radio? Haven't you been reading the newspapers? The European situation is terrible. The domestic situation is worse."

The father thought to himself, "Well, my son's been to college, he reads the papers and he listens to the radio -- so he ought to know." So the father cut down his meat and bun orders, took down his signs, and no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his hot dogs. And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight. The father said to the boy, "You're right, son, we certainly are in the middle of a great depression."

Doesn't that sound exactly like what is happening now?

So what should you do? Apply experience and sound judgement. Not just untested academic or intellectual theories!

www.bustanivilla.com

KENYA CAN CREATE A SECURE ECONOMIC FUTURE

WORK SMARTER, AND SPEND WISELY

In times like these it is all too easy to sit back and say that there is nothing we can do to create a secure future for ourselves and blame it on outside forces.

These comments we often hear these days are not captivating and will certainly not provide solutions to the economic problems.

It is the efforts that every Kenyan and investor put forward in the tough times which will ultimately lead us to a recession proof business and a secure future.

As you no doubt have noticed in recent weeks and months, the economy - not just in Kenya, but worldwide - has been worrying to say the least.

And of course with this comes the ever present question of concerned business owners, farmers and professionals of what to do when the economy does slow down. Do we cut our advertising? Do we scale back our marketing efforts? In short, how do we weather the storm?

Well, I recently met an acquaintance who runs a 700 million Kenya shillings a year enterprise and when I asked his opinion, here is what he had to say.
"The simplest thing I was ever taught - whether good times or bad - was to spend as much smart money as you can and at the same time eliminate as much foolish spending as possible. Of course this makes sense in any economic situation; however it is much more prudent in slowing times to make sure that careless spending does not completely erase our bottom line.

Yes it's true that margins may shrink in some of our efforts, but the important thing is that there are margins that remain. Whatever you do - DON'T stop what's working. Don't stop advertising. Don't stop marketing. Don't stop getting your name out there. Matter of fact, in a slowing economy, you should be doing more. Keep building up your brand or business in good times and bad. Get your name out there on a consistent basis because the tough times won't last forever and when things turn around, you want to be poised and ready for growth, not in the position of having to build up your business from scratch again.

As a business owner it is your responsibility to you, your family, your employees and your customers to remain in business. Do not get caught up in a self fulfilling prophecy whereby business drops off, so you advertise and market less and end up in a downward spiraling loop until suddenly you are out of business. Don't get caught up in the media frenzy of doom and gloom that thrives on sensationalism."

It sure rings true as to what's happening today. What can we do to direct the economic trend into the future? Just save, invest and work smarter.

Thank You.