Guidant Financial Group Blog

The newest survey by the National Federation of Independent Business shows that Small Business Owners are “not very optimistic” about the future (see Small-Business Mood Fades).

Doesn’t “not very optimistic” simply mean they’re pessimistic? Oh well, glass half-full, right?

Even though business owners are slashing their prices and inventories are being kept at bare minimums, the cost of doing business keeps climbing.

For those of you new to the game, this is a recipe for trouble (alt. sp. I-N-F-L-A-T-I-O-N).

As a provider of small business financing solutions, we obviously want to find the silver lining in this nimbus cloud – and there are, indeed, a few glimmers here and there if you squint really hard. After all, we’re not hearing a lot of complaints from our self-directed IRA investors who are buying up real estate at rock-bottom prices, or new business owners who are using retirement funds to secure bargain priced businesses from over-extended would-be moguls.

The reality, however, is (as many economics professors keep reminding us): the U.S. economy is cyclical. Like sales cycles, bowling scores and the weather, it’s really a byproduct of nature. And when it comes to business, human nature especially. We experience success, so we may get overzealous, over-confident or expectant, which can lead to failure. Or we’ve done nothing wrong, but the people we’re doing business with have become overzealous, overconfident or expectant and they let us down. Either way, we get hurt and our hearts are broken. (Yes, we’re still talking about business relationships here!)

Eventually, the pendulum will swing back and the day will come when we rejoice that the first decade of 2000 is behind us. But in the meantime … What does a good business owner do? They learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others, and they move on – probably smarter and stronger than before.