If you were already feeling depressed about the economy and business, big media is there to help you – to feel more depressed, that is.
Jay Rose, V.P. of Sales for Echo Electronics in San Jose, California, and a member of the Brandergy business forums, says big media makes things worse than they need to be.
Rose says “No one has all the answers, but there is something you can do to fight back. It is called capitalism, and it is the right of every American to take advantage of a system that our forefathers endowed us with.”
Business From The Kitchen Table
There are businesses you can start and run from your kitchen table, that take only a few hours a week, or you can do more, if you have time.
The key is to not sit down in front of the TV and watch the network news or reruns of your favorite TV shows. Whatever you do, you get out of it what you put in. Rose says “No, I’m not talking about Amway.”
Business Support: SCORE and Brandergy
If you’ve never run a business before, find a support group that can help you. There are a few around, and people want you to succeed. One thing you can do is look on the internet for SCORE, a great organization that is set up to help people with businesses. Look through their site, and you’ll find a lot of interesting pages. They can even help you find a mentor.
SCORE currently has 348 chapters throughout the USA, and 13,000 registered mentors. They are a great business resource, so don’t let them go to waste.
Jay Rose also says, “You can make a difference in other people’s lives, helping them up from this mess we are all in. If you have special skills in one area, show people how to pay for their health care, their mortgage, car payments, daycare, whatever your skill set is, in a few hours a week. We are all in this together, so don’t just sit there watching the news, DO SOMETHING!”
If we join together Jay Rose’s message and SCORE, if you are retired (or not retired) and you don’t want to start a business, but you have business skills, visit your local SCORE chapter and volunteer your time to help Americans who do want to start a business.
For more seasoned businesses that need advice, SCORE can help you too, but Vincent Wright, who runs Brandergy, says business owners who are past the newbie starting phase, can network, contribute, and get help in the Brandergy forums – they are free to join.
Many companies are tired of the doom and gloom that big media keeps pouring out onto us, like a bucket of cold water.
A Halo For Branding And Marketing
Webby Award-winning Halo Group, a New York-based branding and marketing communications agency, recently advised their clients that 2013 is the year to be more aggressive with marketing efforts.
Halo’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tom Cunningham, says the company is taking its own medicine, and they have reworked their own strategy.
“Even the largest brands are looking for a new kind of agency – agile, business-oriented, creative, ROI driven. To be competitive you need to be a more aggressive marketer.” – Tom Cunningham, Halo Group CMO
Businesses and companies have improved their marketing over the past few year, tapping into the internet to do it. Now is a great time for businesses and small agencies to step up, because they are much more nimble than behemoth companies. This fact alone can help smaller enterprises to succeed, and it is a big part of the reason that small businesses really drive the economy and employment.
Linda Passante, Halo CEO, says assertive companies will come out ahead of their more timid competitors who cut their marketing. She advises doubling down on marketing.
Start Your Own Recovery, With A Business
Big media will continue to tell their sad story, because there is plenty of bad news to tell, and they pull in readers eager to hear their bad news, but you don’t have to buy into their doom and gloom, you can start your own recovery.
