Most countries are not booming and many of them are in a crisis, including the US. There will be many noisy meetings as government officials all over the world gnash their teeth and snarl about the economic mess in their country. And, many businesses are in crisis mode as well. The question is, what can you as a business owner do about it?

The Captain Better Know What He’s Doing

As I mention in the articles’ title, anyone can take the helm in a calm sea.

While that’s not entirely true, it is certainly much easier to lead when it is “business as usual”. That passiveness has its own issues, but that’s a topic for another day.

Few do well in the face of a crisis.

Major turmoil brings out the worst in people and shines a spotlight on their true character. You’ve seen it—typically massive random activity, frustration and worse.

Revenue covers up a lot of sins. Even more, top line revenue covers up a lot more sins. Now, I’m not saying you should put up with a lot of sins, errors and omissions within your business. I’m making the point that increasing revenues certainly helps make them less obvious. It means they are still there, they just don’t have as big an impact.

The last couple of years has been a very telling time for most businesses in the US. The economic situation has generally affected every business, not just isolated ones and selected niches.

So, you need more revenue. And, you need to get it as fast as you can.

What you really need is to get yourself in front of more “hot prospects” under “favorable circumstances”.

Why?

The Greek philosopher Socrates was a frightening man and was put to death because of it. But, it is not what you might be thinking. He never said he had all the answers. On the contrary, he said he didn’t.

No one can guarantee success, but you can help by avoiding some typical business blunders. Every company makes errors. The trick is to acknowledge them quickly and do your very best to make sure they aren’t repeated once more. As any kind of authentic company owner would certainly say, errors will take place, it’s really just how well you take care of them that counts.

Many of the most common mistakes are in the following categories:

Sometimes I can find wonderful material from other fields to use in my space of business coaching, management training and personal development. When I find a gem that can be applicable, I like to modify the thinking a bit to fit my clients’ needs.

There is one chapter inside Kathleen Panula Hockey’s book, “Raising Depression Free Children” devoted to describe five specific critical thinking skills that we can teach our children. Thankfully my children are depression free, but I love the chapter anyway.

She focuses totally on teaching kids with these five critical thinking skills: