Posted by Brian Berg Google+
Seems there's a lot of finger pointing going on with who's responsible for the mess on Wall Street and Main Street. Yesterday I watched on CNN how the over site committee interrogated previous CEO's of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Given only 5 minutes per chairperson, there was little these gentlemen were able to accomplish other than ask sound bite questions and got sound bite answers. Not to mention that these former CEO's are frankly pretty sharp men. With salaries in excess of $4 million per year, there's little room for the duller, less fortunate....like some of those doing the interrogating.
Ultimately, the committee members resulted to asking them what must be done. And in 5 minute sound bites, these former CEO's each made their suggestions, all of which sounded frankly terrific. So what exactly do these hearings accomplish anyway? For me, it was little more than entertainment on a Tuesday evening. I've yet to get a grasp of how bad this economic recession really is and I don't expect anyone has a firm understanding of how long it will take to recover. I poll clients daily on who their business is doing and get optimism from but not all. It appears to me that currently, there are some Direct Mail related businesses more affected than others.
I talked with a marketing firm owner on Friday who said they had put all their focus on the mortgage industry and lost over 85% of their clients in the span of 3 months. Others who've focused on the auto industry have simply disappeared off the face of the earth. It's a tragedy to hear these stories and to imagine this could happen to any of us is frightening. I also hear stories of some guys gearing up for 2009. They've secured contracts for great projects that will result in their highest revenue's ever. How is this possible? The answer I believe is that while some rant on about how bad the economy has smacked them down, others are focusing on new business in area's that haven't been affected.
I guess I'm saying that we must strive to stay focused, strive to stay positive, and work to accomplish long-term objectives. Like our own personal attitude, our businesses are just as nimble as we ourselves can be. There are business opportunities all around us and there will be business opportunities out there in the future. And they will remain out there until someone (possibly we) goes out there and pull them in. Whether you're a mailing list provider or a printer, a direct agency or newspaper, or a business using direct mail marketing as a way to grow your business......think positive. Like life, there's no such thing as constant growth. Ask not for a better economy, but ask for more skills to combat the recessionary years.