How I’m preparing my business for a possible recession
With all the talk of a possible recession, it can be really easy to panic about what that means for your business and livelihood. While we still don’t know if the recession is inevitable, that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare for it. A few pivots and adjustments to your strategy and operations can help protect your business if the recession does come to fruition.
Now I’m not personally going to panic too much because recessions historically haven’t effected my industry too heavily. More people start businesses during recessions and that means they need assistance with getting everything up and running and marketing their new businesses. Hence, why I’m not panicking.
But again, that doesn’t mean I’m not making some adjustments to prepare. My focus is on developing new streams of income, creating strategic partnerships, operating slightly differently, and remaining open to all possibilities so I can maintain the trajectory of my business while also staying in alignment with my vision.
Here’s what I’m doing to prepare my business so I can still grow even if we do slip into a recession:
Diversifying my income
My biggest focus to safeguard against a recession is to diversify my income. I already have my high-ticket offerings including my Strategy Intensives and The CMO Partnership and both of these sell with relative ease. While I don’t anticipate my Strategy Intensives becoming less attractive, I can see people opting out of The CMO Partnership since it’s a monthly payment. Because of this, I’ve decided to create a lower priced offer that provides similar support with my Private Voxer Support. Basically instead of having calls, they can message me via Voxer to get support at a lower price point, less of a time commitment for both of us.
Along with this new offer, I’m also focusing my efforts on some more passive forms of income including affiliate and influencer marketing. I already integrate tips and tricks into my overall content strategy which allows me to seamlessly introduce this stream of income into my business as well by sharing various tools and brands I use.
I am also in the process of creating a completely passive income source by developing a pricing calculator to help service providers and freelancers set their prices. Stay tuned for this one!
Not niching too much
While normally at this point in my business I would be niching down a bit, I’ve decided it’s best to stay open to a more broad audience. This isn’t too big of a shift for me since I already work with a variety of industries (I actually enjoy the variety and challenge that presents!). My client avatar across these industries also has similar interests, beliefs, values, etc. and that’s typically what I speak to within my marketing efforts.
This means that I’m attracting ideal clients because we share these deeper values and connections no matter what industry they’re in… and I plan to continue this somewhat broader focus for now, rather than niching down.
Solidifying my position as an industry leader
While I’m always working to position myself as an expert for my ideal audience, I am making a bigger effort in my overall marketing efforts to solidify my position as an industry leader. I’m focusing more on my PR efforts and making strategic connections. This will not only help keep me top of mind for anyone that can afford my higher-ticket programs, but it also helps sell my lower priced services and helps with my affiliate marketing, and all my other business efforts. It is all intertwined with one another and this will pay dividends during and after a recession.
Increasing my cash reserves
I always keep a healthy cash reserve for my business (an emergency fund, if you will) but I will be increasing the reserves as a “just in case.” That way I can continue to not only pay my bills but have a good amount saved so I can still pay myself in the event there is a downturn in business.
Developing more strategic partnerships
Connecting with others in complimentary industries is also high on my priority list. My goal with this is to create a referral pipeline to keep business coming my way even during (and after) a recession. It also allows me to have partners I can send my clients to if I need to. It’s really a win-win scenario for the short- and long-term.
Even though the majority of the above are areas I would be focused on no matter what, I think putting a bigger focus on them right now will help safeguard my business the best I possibly can in the event of a looming recession.
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