Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me...  #recession

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me... #recession

Life is all about patterns. The brain is there to note them, understand how they work and be precautious about not falling in the same hole in the future.

Once you realize how the mechanism of a pattern works, you might be able to explain life. This doesn’t mean, of course, that you’re done with knowledge, as after knowledge there is wisdom. All I’m talking about is experience.?

Experience is when you’ve been there, done that. But, are you done with it? Of course not. A recession is still going to be a recession. It will affect everybody and hiding from it is not a way to avoid it. Even if you pretend you don’t see it, it will find you; and you’d better be ready.?

Recession: Weve been there, done that, right?

How can you be ready for recession??

Well, have you been saving, by any chance? If so, that’s definitely a good thing. But it doesn’t end there. Savings will keep you alive when money flow is not really flowing, but they don’t last forever. Still, savings will give you time to react and prepare for your next steps.

  • Learn a new skill

Survival instincts should know better, though. How about acquiring new skills? If you’re open to this aspect, you’ll be thankful sooner than you expected. A new skill could be a similar one to what your expertise already is, that will help you expand knowledge and become more advanced in your field. A new skill and a wider range of professional abilities will find you much more ready in the now, but also in the near future, when recession will affect companies and most of them will have to rearrange the company’s personnel, probably letting go a number of employees, still hiring new people, most preferably professionals who will know how to combine this with that. Employees with efficient skills to cover a wider range of working needs doesn’t mean more work for them, but maybe more responsibilities and even a higher position than before.?

This new skill you might want to learn has to be relevant to our times and how things have been moving around these past many many years, which is digitally. A new skill related to a digitally oriented expansion of your expertise sounds like a perfect reason for you to keep your current position more secure, get promoted or —even if you lose your job— drastically increase chances to get hired by another company sooner than before.?

Last but not least, many professionals developed their careers during the endless quarantines and remote work became an important contract condition for many, in order to start or continue working for a company. A few decided to also become freelancers and work under contracts only and remotely only, following the style that best fits them and brings the most productivity out of their work and establishes harmony and balance to their life. So, especially in a recession situation, freelance remote work could be a win-win situation, both for the employee and the company.?

Allow me to take a note at this point, that while the Industrial Revolution of the 20th century needed the workforce to act as a mass, the 21st century is about finding your own path, not only on an existential level, but also as a professional.

Are you a company owner?

  • Strengthen relationships with existing clientele and partners

First of all, you need to become a company owner with great communication skills. Strengthening your relationships with your customers is probably what will keep your company alive or vastly help bring it back to life after recession gets out of the way.

Strengthening your relationships with your partners. I was walking through Brooklyn the other day and I sat down at this restaurant to eat, but I was very confused when I got the menu. My choices were between Paella with seafood and Jamon, and also Tom Yum Goong and Pad Thai. I had to ask the waiter about that, just out of curiosity. He said that this used to be two restaurants, but through the pandemic they decided to combine their powers and that turned out to be a wonderful and profitable combination for both businesses! So, if your partner makes doorknobs and you make doors, you can become one company and that’s a way easier experiment than a Spanish-Thai restaurant, right? If your current business partners are not open to collaborate towards this direction, consider making a brand new partnership and experiment on a completely fresh idea.

  • Broaden your clientele

Another change you can make that might bring progress, while everyone else is struggling to keep their companies alive, is to switch to a new audience and/or look to broaden your clientele. Let’s say that your field is softwares for corporations. In this era that everyone’s technology related needs have greatly expanded, could your product be useful to small businesses or even sole proprietors, if the proper adjustments were made to its structure and philosophy? This is just a suggestion for whom it may concern, not an announcement hint from us here at Interas Labs. Who knows what the future will bring, though… We are always open to new ideas! ??

A move to open the doors to the bigger audience definitely means that your company will have to provide its services for smaller projects and budgets,? since you will be working with small businesses and individuals, but these smaller projects will require way less time in order to be executed and delivered.?

  • Revisit your strategy and roadmap

Just as importantly, bring in a Digital Adoption consultant and have them guide you on how to become current in this new situation that is going to be around for a few months, if not more. Imagine going through a recession and not being contemporary too. A strong digital strategy and a well-designed digital transformation will save you some long-hour moments desperately seeking solutions. Ask your Modernization team, as they will know better.

When you know a tsunami is coming, youd better be ready.?And by being ready I mean being current, using modern machines, being consulted by an experienced Modernization team and making the move before you’re out of choices.

Scenario: You are in the middle of a road trip and you get a serious flat tire with a broken rim, right in the middle of the desert. Would you rather wait for roadside assistance for 4 hours and another 4 days for the mechanic to get you the right tire and rim from the company or do you put the spare wheel (aka fifth wheel) on to reach your destination and then spend the time that is required to fix the damage when you have indeed the time? The pace and perspective our digital times suggest is to reach the destination by all means and always move forward for the sake of progress. This is not good or bad, it’s just what it is. But don’t forget that whatever hole you have left uncovered, you will have to go back and cover it. Maybe this is the right time for you to take care of the technical debt. Keep that in mind as part of your digital adoption and watch your company flourish when the ride starts again.

Lastly, use this recession moment, that we all hope won’t last forever, to build a backlog for a new budget so as to frame the foundation for your future plans and higher vision, when this land will be absolutely fertile again.

Anyhow, we are here to help anytime, and regardless of the fact that we work greatly under pressure, we always prefer not to be in a hurry. Plan ahead of time and make the move. Plant a seed, watch it grow.

Kindly,

Interas Labs

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