Hard heads for hard times

It was one of those magical days in Paris, just around Bastille Day 2006. I was zooming around the streets with folks from a mastermind retreat on Segways. You've seen these contraptions -- they look like a scooter with out the back end. There is no motor - your body position keeps them going. Some folks find them great fun or at least useful. I wasn't so sure. But I was getting the hang of it and it was an adventure. Then some folks stepped right in front of me...did I mention there are no brakes? The machine stopped dead and the law of physics took over...in other works, I fell backwards and my head hit the pavement...luckily I was wearing a helmet. My companions rushed over but all that was hurt was my pride...it goeth before a fall, you know.

I was thinking about that Segway ride and that fall and my hard head. My mother always claimed I had a hard head. I've come to believe it's a good thing. In fact, as a small business owner, it may be one of my most important assets in these hard times.

These are not times for the faint-of-heart to be in business...there are tough decisions every day. Every aspect of the business must be examined while asking that simple strategic question: Is this going to help me accomplish my mission or will it move me away from it?

You see the question is NOT, "should I spend this money on X?" It's not even "will this give me return on investment?" And it's definitely not, "Where can I cut expenses more?"

In hard times, you must be hardheaded and ask a different set of questions: "Of all the things I could be spending my time and money on, which will move me toward accomplishing my goals?" "What are my priorities for success?" "What will I lay aside so my energies are focused on the most important things?"

Sure it's tough out there. Everyday we could hear some bad news...as predictable as the thunder storms that roll through here in South Florida almost every afternoon. Let the economic storms roll. This hardheaded business owner is taking a page from the Founding Fathers. They certainly faced hard times...there was a price on their heads...but they focused their energies on success. They envisioned a republic that had never existed before. They made it a reality. Their hardheaded determination helped inspire that first Bastille Day.

So remembering all that serves as a guide for today. When you fall off your plan, get up and go again. Create a different future and hardheadedly make it happen. Innovate. Invigorate. Instigate.

I'm saving the flamingos

Out in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania there are many manufacturing plants that are rollicking along as if there were no constant drumbeat of doom and gloom on TV. I visited two of them this week and it was a pleasant surprise. Both companies have added to their capacity and product diversity by buying up equipment from competitors who have given up. Both are looking for more and more creative ways to cut costs while they expand their offerings. Both are thriving.

One of these plants produces all sorts of gardening and lawn-related items; plant containers, hardware for window boxes, and numerous other things. But what really struck me were the flamingos. That's right, those neon pink birds you've seen perched in people's yards are alive and well. Those flamingos just might pull the company right through the recession and help keep profit rolling in.

The owner bought the injection molding equipment from a company that had shuttered its doors. He was confident that this was one item that he would not have to compete with China to produce cheaply in the U.S. You see, those flamingos are full of air, sort of like a hard plastic balloon. That makes them very bulky to ship in those giant containers you see on ships. You can't get enough in the container to make it profitable.

Now the owner is working on a new jig to be able to dip about 10 of those birds in the paint to get those cute little black and yellow beaks looking just right -- again saving money and time -- no more hand painting.

So what's my point? Pretty simple. As a friend of mine says, when everyone else is zigging, it's time for you to zag.

That's what the framers of the U.S. Constitution did in 1787 when they decided to save the Republic. Remember, at that time foreclosures were destroying farms and families, inflation was destroying every one's financial security, foreign countries were poised for invasion, the government was impotent...there were even pirates attacking our shipping off the cost of Africa.

Sound familiar? 222 years ago, our leaders were facing many of the same challenges as today. They 55 men who made up the Constitutional Convention had decided it was time to zag. Many so-called leaders in the 13 states didn't want to lose their political power and change the disastrous status quo. Even Patrick Henry refused to participate -- he said he smelled a rat!

So George Washington, James Madison, and others met, formulated a new Constitution, shepherded it through the ratification process, and then served in the new government. They took a bold new direction, they innovated, they refused to participate in the dyer predictions of the imminent downfall of America.

So, I'm following their lead and that of that innovative factory owner in Pennsylvania. How about you? What are you doing to zag and thrive in this economic climate?

I said to the factory owner, "I guess the flamingos will save you." "No," he said, "I'm saving the flamingos!"

(c)Rebecca Staton-Reinstein

Read more about this innovative plant owner in my new book, Conventional Wisdom: How Today's Leaders Plan, Perform, and Progress Like the Founding Fathers. It's available now in a special pre-publication offer. www.ConventionalWisdomCenter.com