10 things you MUST do during a recession

It would be pretty hard to not believe we’re not in a recession at the moment.

So, I wanted to share a few things that I believe might be valuable on navigating it over the next few years.
If you do business the same way you do during the expansion or peak economic in a recession.

It won't work.

If you're reading this more than likely you haven't been in a recession. Or at least built a business in a recession.

The following are 10 things I believe you must know and do during a recession.

My first was the last 2008 recession.
At the time I was running a 7+ figure agency and the following years were my best years of that agency.

However, it was a different time.
The following is not direct advice
and it's entirely possible that we aren't in a recession.

Do keep in mind, however, that every single economy has a cycle.

Let's begin:
#1. Ignorance vs. Freeze vs. Fight
The first stage of a recession is ignorance.
We've been there for the past 5 years.

Those who are smart, have been preparing.
Those who believe others about the economy or simply don't know the difference haven't been.

The second stage is freeze.
You cancel subscriptions, you attempt to save as much money as possible and you don't make many choices on a daily basis.

The third stage is fight.
Not everyone ends up here, however, this is the stage in which you see those that do have resources, using those resources to not go backwards.

I would say, based on all the data I have. America (at least) is at the beginning stages of freeze.

#2. Your numbers won't work
What worked in the past.
Call bookings, conversion rates, operational rates, refund rates... all of that.

Throw it out.
Because it won't work like it did.

I don't mean not to track it, however, comparing 2022 numbers to 2023 numbers will be useless.

YoY comparison generally only works if the market variable hasn't changed in a significant way.

#3. Buying Behavior Changed 
People will be in the slow lane for much longer.
They won't buy on a whim as much.
They generally will buy from those where they are well researched and more intellectually based choices, versus emotional.

They will buy from people they respect and trust and believe in.
Which means your buyer cycle will be longer
and the importance of content marketing, social media, omnipresence, retargeting and being great at what you do will be increased.

#4. Focus
The more "things" you are doing
the more energy you have to flow outwards.

However, if there is less energy in a system (the economy) it's best to ensure you're focused on where makes the most sense.

This means dropping the "nice to have" and using the "we need this" principle.

#5. Opportunities
As we go further into a recession your ability to hire great talent, acquire businesses and be able to have opportunities that aren't possible in a bull market will occur.

This requires you to have some capital and to strategize, however, the best time to expand is not in an expanding market, but in a contracting market.

#6. Audience & Traffic
The cost of traffic and audience will go down.
We've already seen ad costs the lowest since 2017, at the current moment.

However, the number of people that will buy from the audience will also be lower.

Which means your cost per sale could be more expensive, even if your cost per lead or cost per click is lower.

This means that right now will be the best time in the next 10 years to build audience and perhaps one of the last for those who aren't a 7+ figure business.

#7. Short v. Long Term ROI
While you may have to focus on the short-term, my suggestion is to take at least 20% of what you earn and put it into long-term opportunities.

Reason being that there will be a lot of them right now and in 5 years, it'll be worth far more than what it is right now.

#8. Abundance Mindset
It's really really easy to buy into a lot of different stories about the economy or what it means.

It's easy to be scared.
The easiest way to snap out of this?
To help people and remember you're extremely resourceful.

#9. Offers
Your offers may need to change during this time.
Many of the businesses I own, we've already been changing the offers.

In my mentorship business, I have as well.
This means you may need to have lower margin, or to have higher intimacy.

In general.
High end services and products will continue to do well and low-ticket products and services will do well, along with DFY.

The reason is simple.
People are okay spending small amount of money to learn new things that can help them.

People that have money don't want to do something that won't work so they will hire the best our outsource the responsibility.

#10. Pain vs. Pleasure
If I have $1M in the bank, how much will I spend to protect that $1M?

The answer?
All of it.

But if I have $1M and I want $2M how much will I spend?
Maybe 25% of it.

In a recession people don't want to go backwards.
Thus, they are avoiding pain.

This means your marketing and strategy must be aligned to being the life raft and pain killer instead of the pleasure.

On Thursday at 2PM Pacific I’m hosting a session to dive more deeply into this along with other elements of a recession. How it changes scaling your business (and investing as well).

I’d love to have you there… Here’s the link:

www.thefutureofonlinebusiness.com

Until next time…

- Scott