There's opportunity in the air. Can you feel it? Here's what I mean. I'm beginning to notice many stores have already cut down on staffing, this I'm sure, in reaction to the economy's woes. Several store managers I work with have told me that their business is good, but even those managers are beginning to consider recession-spawned management techniques. Recession-spawned management techniques include things like cutting advertising and paring staffs. That's OK for them, but it spells opportunity for those who remain aggressive. The whole thing reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago. It went something like this:

An old gentleman owned a hot dog stand. His hot dogs were famous for blocks and blocks, maybe even miles and miles. People loved his hot dogs. He had a couple of people working for him and advertised in all of the local papers. He hired kids to put signs on poles and he even made calls on groups of people to encourage them to stop and try his hot dogs. Once people tried his hot dogs they were hooked. Business was good, so good in fact that he was able to open a couple more stands and put his son through college.

One day his son came home and begin to talk to his father about what he had been learning. "There's a recession on out there pops." The young man said. "You'd better stop spending so much on advertising, and let some of your help go."

"But business is good son." The old man defended.

"Sure it is now, but you'll see there's a recession on and you'd better get ready." His son replied.

The old man considered what he had heard and considered the amount of money he had spent for his son's education. Finally he decided that perhaps he should cut back and wait for better times. After he stopped advertising, cut some of his help and closed one of his stands his business began to pull back dramatically. In reaction to the downturn he cut advertising even more and tried to run the stand by himself. To make matters worse, one of his old competitors built two new stands in the old man's territory. "Lucky I had my son to warn me", thought the old man. Eventually his hot dog business failed. His son had been right--there was a recession on.

The moral to this story is: Whatever your store is offering, keep advertising your "hot dogs", keep all of your "hot dog cooking" and "hot dog selling" personnel. Don't give another hot dog seller an invitation to enter your neighborhood and don't listen to the cry of recession or you might just find it to be true.