A lot of the news this last weekend was about the recession. Whether it’s coming or whether it’s already here.

George W Bush doesn’t believe one’s coming, while John Williams believes a Great Depression is coming. Others think we’re already in recession and still others are saying it will be 2011 before we see a return to real growth.

The net result was more uncertainty, wild swings in the Stock Markets and stories about consumer confidence being lower than it’s been for the last 16 years. Pretty much all doom and gloom.

But I’m of the view that every situation provides an opportunity and, while it’s certainly nicer to be in a boom time, recessions provide opportunities too.

The problem with recessions is that many people begin to feel insecure about their jobs and income. And this time round, with the levels of personal debt at all time highs combined with the falls in home equity values, feelings of insecurity are likely to be stronger than usual.

That usually sends people into ‘survival’ mode and that, often, is the worst mode to be in.

So how can we prepare ourselves for a recession?

Make ourselves independent of our employers by developing, improving or reviving some personal skill that we can sell to others.

We all have some personal knowledge or experience that would be useful to others. Even if we’ve been employed in the corporate world all our working lives, we will have developed knowledge and expertise that we can provide to others on a consultancy or freelance basis.

Some examples:

• If we’ve been an administrative assistant we could use our MS Office skills to offer copy-typing or Resume production services to others on a freelance basis. In fact any kind of document production service, but resumes are usually in demand during recessional times.
• If we’ve been in marketing or sales we can offer our services to small businesses on a commission only basis. This gives us the opportunity to provide marketing or sales services for 2 or 3 different businesses at the same time, if necessary.
• If we’ve been working in IT or on maintaining the company website we could offer website design services to small off line businesses. I wrote a separate article on this subject a while ago.

The trick is to identify what services you could provide to others. And if you can’t identify any then you should take the opportunity now, before hard times hit, to develop some skills and knowledge that you could provide professionally.

Mike Dillard has just launched a website about how to build a business on a budget. One of his key messages is that if you have a limited budget then spend it on something that gives you leverage. Like acquiring knowledge.

Once you have knowledge no one can take it away from you. It’s your knowledge and you can use it in the best way you know how to benefit you and your business.

There are other advantages to acquiring new knowledge too.

I said above that you should make yourself independent of your employer. That does not mean or imply that you should leave your employer. It means putting yourself into a position so that if your employer downsizes you you’re not left without options.

If you acquire extra knowledge it may be useful to your employer – which would make you more valuable to them and increase your chances of avoiding the downsizing. And you’ll always have the opportunity of turning that into a business of your own if you choose.

So what skills do you have and what skills do you need in order to sell your services as a freelance or contractor..?

• If you have good technical skills you may need to check out a marketing and selling course so you can sell yourself and your offering more effectively.
• You may need to study some books on consultancy so you’re better prepared for writing proposals and reports.
• You may need to identify a potential business partner whose skills complement yours. For example – I’m teaming up with someone who has much stronger technical skills than I do. But the balance of his technical skills and my marketing and writing skills enables the two of us to provide a very rounded offer.

Identify the skills you have and identify the skills you would need in order to provide services on a freelance basis and make sure you’re fully prepared.

So – how to prepare for a recession?

1. Identify the particular skills or experience you have that you could provide to others on a freelance basis.
2. Identify who would want to use the skills you have – and how to let them know about the services you can provide.
3. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Do what you need to do to strengthen your weak areas.
4. If necessary, identify who you could team up with to make your offering stronger – someone whose strengths complement yours. Be sure to work out a very clear agreement as to how you’ll work together in order to avoid disputes later.
5. Put together a plan that you can implement quickly in the event you’re laid off.

If you do go independent you’ll need to report any income you earn from your independent work to the tax authorities – so be sure to keep records of your income and expenses right from the start, because trying to pull them together later will be a long and thankless task.

And if you don’t go independent you’ll have made yourself even more valuable to your employer – which will be to your benefit too.

Who knows - this recession could be the best thing that happened to you!

How are you preparing for the recession..? Leave a comment and let us know..!

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