About Purpose is about your purpose.
Aim: Identify and articulate your purpose.
Arm: Shape yourself around your purpose.
Act: Achieve your purpose.
Programs:
About Purpose,
YOUR Purpose
Now announcing a radical new way for you to afford quality consulting services. Read this press release.
How To Ride An Upturn 
Click for MP3 version
Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2010
The predictions are cautiously optimistic. The indicators are pointing the right way. Prospects are dusting off your old proposals. It may really be that an upturn is on the way. Are you prepared?
“Bring it on,” you say. “Not so fast,” I say. Preparing yourself for an upturn may be just as important as all the work you had to do to make it through the downturn. Don't blunder into it. Here are five steps to take advantage of the positive trends.
Prepare an upturn plan. Create a staged recovery plan and base it on cash flow. Identify specific cash targets where you can safely add marketing, advertising, staff, materials or equipment back in.
Bring home the bacon. Concentrate on bringing in cash – even to the point of offering customer incentives. Invest first in productive changes and resist the temptation to replace peripherals. Write terms into your deals that prioritize quick payments.
Go easy on the hiring. You have probably cut back to the bone and are anxious to relieve the stress of your overworked staff, but ease into it. Hold off on hiring full-time staff by increasing part-timers, first. Take a little of your increase and give modest raises to those who've stuck by you through the tough times. Until you have solid bookings in hand, use temps to ease the overwork.
Continue to outsource non-vital services. While it may be tempting to bring things back in-house, remember that non-productive services take your focus and time. Until you are solidly back in the black, protect your ability to stay agile and lean.
Increase marketing and advertising. Hopefully you have kept up some presence all along, but this is the time to let customers know you are poised and ready to handle their upturn needs.
If you are purposeful about your build-up, you are much more likely to be successful. If there are still bumpy spots on the road to recovery, you will have put yourself in a position to adapt to it because you have built in flexibility without over committing yourself to an uncertain future.
Read a companion article, "Me First" is Rarely Good for Business
For more help with strategic planning, or if you would like to explore how you can get solid input from other successful business owners, e-mail or call me at 612-965-2253.