Does it really matter if we're in a recession?

Earlier this week I was in NYC for the National Retail Federation's annual conference. Ben Stien was the lunch speaker on Monday. It was an amazing speach that tied together the economy with retail in one, long, stream-of-conciousness kind of deliver that left me mezmerized and flabergasted all at the same time.

There was an interesting nugget in that mile-a-minute delivery, though. It was that the definition of a recession "was the decline in GDP for six consecutive months", and that we only had one month under our belt. Moreover, of the two recessions in the past 20 years or so, none lasted more than six months. So, we could be out of a recession before we really know if we're in one.

Whether it's true or not, it tells us something about growing our business. Recessions are about the past, not the here-and-now, nor the the future. Business growth comes not from what we did yesterday, but from what we do today and tomorrow.

Today and tomorrow, it really doesn't matter if we're in a recession. We still have bills to pay and mouths to feed. If we get too wrapped up in the economy, we lose site of our business goals and objectives...and blame our failures on the economic hardships. The fact is, if we devote time to meeting our customer's needs, values and expectations, it won't matter what's happening in the economy. We'll still succeed and so will our customers.

So, put the newspaper down. Turn off the radio. Concentrate on how to serve customers better. Focus on today and tomorrow to grow your business. Stop worrying about a recession. It only exists in the past.

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