Every time I hear about the ‘Global Financial Crisis’ or the ‘r’ word (and its ugly step-sister, the ‘d’ word, which both end with -ession) I get a little bit more cross, yes cross I tell you. I get cross because it’s largely a self-fulfilling prophesy; the more it’s reported, the more scared and conservative people become, so the less they spend and the worse the economy becomes, AND SO ON, ever downwards.
In issue two of Dumbo feather, I wrote an article titled “When a crisis isn’t” which was all about seeing tough times as opportunities to re-think, re-evaluate and refresh. I was also recently interviewed for a series of ‘Wake Up Sydney’ videocasts, one of which is titled ‘Crisis/Opportunity’. It got me thinking, perhaps now is the time to quietly nut out a business plan for your dream, to try something new; write that book, take off traveling for a year, pare life back to its essentials and discover how truly liberating that can be.
I’m wary of sounding flippant and naive, but I just think that we need to be more positive. Instead of hunkering down, I propose we band together, support each other, buy local, and most of all, use the adversity as a challenge to come up with new ideas and ways to use resources more efficiently.
I’m going to use the next couple of months to find ways of helping all of you birds of a (Dumbo) feather flock together; to buy from each other, to give each other work and to make magic together.
Dumbo feather’s doing well. Because we’ve never relied heavily on advertising revenue, the massive budget cuts in that department (which are impacting other mags) aren’t so devastating to us. That said, as always we still need the awesome support of our flock!
I’m keen to know your ‘good news’ stories … How you’re dealing with what’s happening and using it to your advantage … Leave a comment below.
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21 responses so far ↓
You are so right. On 6th January I sat down and wrote a fast, focused business plan and I’ve been steadily actioning it – more business opportunities so far this year than for most of last year combined! I’m also so much more productive… consolidation truly has its benefits!!
I whole heartedly agree. I just got out of a 2 hour meeting at my day job where this was discussed…between the unacceptable profit margins and supplier down turn stocking stuffing chatter there was not much talk of what we can and should be doing! Throw me a life preserver. Should I just sit here and wait for the market to turn?
Long story short, there is a hill at the other side of every valley. Diversify, simplify, for god sakes do something that doesn’t promote stale, over processed thinking.
I’m doing my bit. I have just invested in my own side project, it keeps me busy doing something I love, provides local companies with new business and hopefully will help pay off my credit card for my holiday to Japan as I’ve taken advantage of the cheap airfares, that may never happen again!
Are you thinking of a subscriber discount scheme? I am a radio RRR subscriber and sub discounter in my business. It is a great way of being part of a community, I would be happy to offer the same discount (10%) to Dumbo Feather subscribers, if you are interested.
My dream is we use these ripples in the economy to – dream more, eat healthier, spend more time with friends – face to face rather than virtually, write more, read more, laugh more, build communities, buy local, walk rather than drive and live more simply.
I agree. I’ve lived the frugal creative life thus far, and it’s just life as usual for me now. My cruddy non-profit day job isn’t going anywhere… I have no debts, and my creative plugging away is starting to bear fruit, (in the form of my first novel out in a few months, and a steady trickle of painting sales). Cheaper airfares and housing are fine with me!
Kate, everything you have said is so true. My small violin store and online business have been booming this year and no sign of the R word in sight. It must be on our customers minds though, as we are constantly asked ‘how are things going in this crisis for you…’ etc, etc… It angers me to see the media beat this issue to death and use scare tactics to influence the consumer confidence. They have no right. I’d love to see a positive news story about small business or something similar along those lines.
I agree also that through adversity comes hope. This R word has been a great catalyst for me to look at the business plan and strip it back to the essentials and really take stock of the overall situation. Buy less and be profit margin savvy! I will hence be devoting this year to consolidating the business and not looking at growing at a speed of knots.
Lastly, I would also like to see more support for local business come from this time. I think consumers need to be aware of the goods and services on their own doorstep and take use of them first over purchasing from O/S or otherwise. Hopefully we can all grow stronger together through this.
Great article Kate. I completely agree…you can see this time as an opportunity just as easily as you can go into meltdown.
I’ve ramped up the number of meditation classes I’m running and I’ve put some relaxation MP3’s on the website rather than doing all the corporate work. And it’s actually much more fun!
Chris, my husband, freelances in the film industry making tv ads so he’s been really quiet. We’ve grabbed the opportunity to set him up in the little property maintenance business that he’s been talking about it for years and we have been inundated with new enquiries. He’s now got more work than he can handle.
We’re just about to sign our first lease for office space after 5 years of home office. Crazy? Maybe. We intend to work as hard as we can and use any downtime to invite interesting people to join us to think, dream and exchange ideas – a creative retreat to allow us all to prepare more thoughtfully for the next wave.
I agree wholeheartedly… the more it’s cited, the more it seems to want to be true. Whilst it’s true that these are ‘tight times’ for people, it just seems to me that this has been the case for quite some while. What’s really changed for most real people not flying in the circles of BIG business?
What about those people who just keep chipping away, and making a success of it?
I reckon I might mention this mob – The Mowanjum Community (outside Derby – Western Australia) – who produced their own book “Mowanjum – 50 years communtiy history”, mostly off their own back – to tell the story of their move and new life (over the last 50 years) to a place they called “Mowanjum”.
This mob are responsible to their lore/law and country, for the stories and painting depicting the Wanjinas from the Kimberley region of WA. They’re a great example of a group pf people – who just keep on keeping on… a few lessons could be learned here I reckon.
If you’re interested – here’s the link:
http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/newreleases/1095
Cheers
Ron
That’s the spirit! And so is this
Don’t keep calm and carry on … Get excited and make things
I am genuinely excited and intrigued by what this time of people being pushed outside their confort zone will bring. If you take away the net, and comfort, will people take more risks, be more creative and/or seek more meaningful lives?
I have started a new business in travel accessories over the last year…which has not been ideal timing to do something different in travel. So, things are slow right now…but that gives me more time to get things better, more personal and more in touch with my customers.
And explore other business ideas as well!
It is hard being faced with business & financial challenges, but once you get past the initial fear factor, there is ALWAYS another way, and another opportunity.
I agree with you Kate. I wrote a piece along these lines in the SMH this week. There are oppportunities in every crisis and as we’ve discovered in Newcastle sometimes the most unlikely things can be turned into opportunities. 8 empty buildings have become homes to 14 art and design projects with many more to come!
BRAVO!!
It is so refreshing to hear people embracing life rather than life embracing them! Henry Ford once said, if you think you can or you think you can’t your right! From what I have observed in life, if you think you are in a recession you are and if you think you’re not your right. We need to recession proof our minds and keep on keeping on… I was once told a story about a man working on a corner of a New York street as a hot dog vendor, this man was oblivious to the “recession” going on around him and business was booming. One day his Harvard gradute son was talking to him and asked him ” dad, don’t you know we are in a recession”, well it wasn’t long after that conversation, this hot dog vendor was out of business. Word of wisdom, guard your mind, be careful what you dwell on and what you allow to translate to your world!
I recently joined couchsurfing.com and it really made me believe in the human race again! Not only am I hosting amazing people and share with them creative ideas and plenty of travel stories. I now also have places around the world where I can stay for free and experience other people’s lives. I have also connected with the local CS community, basically total strangers, who believe that extending their trust to other strangers can result in the most awesome acts of kindness and fun times to be had. There are even events organised for the upcoming world pillow fight day, imagine that. In times like these we shouldn’t let the fear of the unknown inhabit all our thinking, but fight it – with a pillow, a wholehearted belly laugh or whatever else is available!
Wow, I found your post so inspirational and positive! I am just about to launch my online store, maybe today but more likely tomorrow. My online store is for babies and kids clothes and I am supporting Australian and New Zealand designers. I think it is important we support each other and help one another get business so we can all keep our jobs. I am willing to help make magic, not sure how, but count me in if you need another head!
Well the brother of a friend of mine heard he was going to be made redundant started looking for a job and found out he was being paid £10,000 less than his current job – landed a new job and a massive pay increase ! Anther friend got made redundant and within a month found a much better more presigious job in arts marketing its only for 9 months but hey. A third story was of another person made redundant who used it to make her dream of moving to Amsterdam real.
This GFC is the best thing that could have happened – to stop us all being totally buried (in merde) and losing all sense of perspective: not to mention choking to death. Boy … we all need a rest, a big deep breath of the fresh air that drifted in that’s free of the odour of “mega-achievers” and as they say, time for a “good long hard look at ourselves”.
Dumbo Feather has done well because this is what we all need and it gives us a glimpse of … some joy … learning, as Leunig says so nicely, to hold rather than grasp.
Hopefully, we’ll gown down into the valley, do some thinking, change direction and NOT come up back on the same road. Have less stuff, be happier, have time to think and talk and be sustain-able (given that the environment is everything – outside us, between us and inside us).
From the point of view of making a living, we just have to make sure we have new ideas that put us first on the new road while the old (fat, bloated … I didn’t say that) behemoths run off the side.
I got GFC’d back in December and I could not have imagined a better catalyst in my life. Losing my job has meant that I was able to spend a month in India and now I am focusing my time breathing life into my old skills and learning new ones in preparation for a career change. I’ve enrolled in courses, been working on my own design ideas and have begun doing some freelance fashion styling.
I am earning very little but having a part-time paid job in retail 2 days a week is covering the essentials. I have not felt this inspired in many years and it is because I am rich in the world’s most precious commodity – time.
Thank you for such a positive article Kate. I feel that this is an exciting time because there is so much change in the air. I have made many new contacts lately and it seems that people are so geared up to help each other out – for the love, not the money.
This created crisis made people stop and think . With growing eco conciousness most people turned to embrace sustainability on many levels
Comments are spot on may be just one exception “buy local ” .If you invest invest in good quality if you can find it next door great but some times we can not . In your previous issue ” Made to last “you were advocating good quality and often good quality means imported products and exported products as well . If you buy it here good quality imported products largely became local at many level .Just think about it for a moment !We have to decide ,will we raise the bar and be fair globally to weed out the rubbish and live with in our better quality ,longer lasting, sustainable ,sensible means or keep piling up rubbish just because it is next door .
I personally choose diversity and support excellence to sustain our global village .
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