Page 93 - The Magic of Tiny Business

Part III  Practice Your “How”

How to Be Ready for Anything
® Keep your overhead low.
® Expand with caution (don’t rent that big office until
you’re bursting at the seams).
® Know your lending sources before you need them.
® Lead with agility.
® Practice pivoting (keep on asking yourself “what
if?” from many perspectives).
® Always be forecasting (more on this in the next
chapter).

Pay Attention to Take Action
Once the economy began to take a downturn, everyone was
running scared. The Great Recession hadn’t happened yet,
but it was about to happen and it was going to be really big.
Businesses were cutting back on staff just in case. Others
were reducing inventory. Meanwhile, I’d just hired a whole
office and was on a growth ride with zero experience reduc-
ing anything.

At Eco-Bags Products, we were humming along, rid-
ing the Oprah wave. Orders were flowing. Cash was good.
In hindsight, we should’ve pulled back and saved for just
in case. A classic business mistake. We got caught up in
our own reality. I thought we were impervious, that what-
ever was about to happen wouldn’t take a bite out of us. I
was listening, but I wasn’t paying attention and I wasn’t
taking any actions.

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