619: Why You Are Wrong About The Recession in 2023

Macroeconomics are complicated.  Highly complex minds maneuver highly complex algorithms and data points to determine economic sea changes and tidal flows, the currents of which move entire societal habits.   When the news channels report a sweeping new change or movement about this or that in the market, we are immediately programmed to assume the news piece directly affects us.   At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, John Elderidge released an unknowingly timely book entitled Get Your Life Back.  A key concept of his writing was the practice of “benevolent detachment”.   Elderidge describes it this way on his blog, “Everybody has a junk drawer, that black hole for car keys, pens, paper clips, gum, all the small flotsam and jetsam that accumulates over time. Our souls accumulate stuff, too, pulling it in like a magnet. And so Augustine said we must empty ourselves of all that fills us, so that we may be filled with what we are empty of.  Over time I’ve found no better practice to help clear out my cluttered soul than the practice of benevolent detachment. The ability to let it go, walk away—not so much physically, but emotionally, soulfully.” We are presuming that a recession for the global economy, or at least your national economy, means a recession for you. You are wrong to assume that. Some of our greatest small and large businesses were launched in the midst of recession.  And because much of a business's exponential growth comes during its first years, it would be silly to blindly buy into the broad narrative that recession equals bad. A recession does not mean no business by and large…instead, a recession equals less business - but not for everyone.   We have clients standing on the front step of a new year with realistic projections of already-contracted business for this year that yield growth - in a recession.   Following the wisdom of Augustine, “let us empty ourselves of all that fills us so we may be filled with all that we are empty of.” The pandemic years lulled many to sleep and turned many salespeople into order-takers (not all of course…but many) bellied up at the bar of new business deciding what they wanted and when they wanted it. We have been emptied of hope and opportunity.  We have been emptied of hustle and proactive, forward-leading customer engagement.   Instead, we have filled ourselves with the infinite scroll of reactionary firefighting responding to the latest, loudest fear-screamer believing that the end of business is near.   Value-added commerce, trade, and transactions have been operating for centuries throughout the litany of cultures and societies.  We are microscopic players on a macroscopic world stage and it would do us well to walk outside and pay attention to the even more microscopic bird, Jesus the teacher reminded us it does not plant seeds, it does not harvest its food, it does not store its food and has all it needs.   A recession provides the needed jolt to sharpen our focus, to not take for granted the work we have been invited into and built for. A recession is often the push we need to lean forward, take our mission to the right people (marketing), make a mutual commitment to serve those people (sales), and fulfill that service within the values that we have laid out (operations).  A recession is also a reminder that home runs are not a winning strategy.  Base hits work and base hits require repetition, predictability, and meaning - all products of thoughtful action. Recessions do not favor those bellied up at the bar taking orders at will all the while watching the breaking news merry-go-rounds fretting the what-ifs. Recessions do favor those who are sober, proactive, and willing to hit the streets – those who realize that while the weather in some locations might look cloudy and rainy, the local weather is what really matters.   There might be less business overall, that might just mean more opportunity for you. Their news is not your news unless you allow it to be.