Depression Momentum

I promised to myself that I will keep the basic economics posts to a minimum this year so let this one stand for January, in hopes that it can help you understand what is going on.

Much of business is logic based on models, experience and conservative/aggressive business planning.

Then there is that tiny, ugly, human part: emotion. Are business owners, managers and CEOs fearful? Are they fearful for what the investors will do to their stock option values if they don’t meet their expectations? Or are they fearful that they will be out of a job if the economy keeps on going down and they didn’t cut aggressively when they had the opportunity to make a difference by cutting spending?

Tragically enough, the former is true at this point. Many of the jobs you see on the chopping block are being cut simply because companies must put forward the face of frugal if not cautious pessimism for the near future of the economy and act now.

If you lost your job, I’m sorry.

. . .

As for us at Own Web Now… we had new people start today, we are opening a new office on Wednesday and will have more people start next Monday.

It’s as simple as: It’s my money on the line and I see the opportunity for product lines that address the problems that are emerging in the marketplace.

As of late, I have spoken to a lot of people who are down about their business and relative disinterest the leads are showing in what they are offering. If you’ve ever met me, you’ve heard these words: “How can we help you make more money?” – If you are getting shut down in your pitches perhaps it’s time to start asking questions instead of trying to sell something the customer doesn’t want to buy.

It’s 2009, and despite the market being dominated by GoDaddy, we still sell Web hosting. At a significant margin. To a lot of people who find our offering, or performance and our reliability more valuable than others. Does that discount GoDaddy and what they have accomplished, or does it change the direction here? Neither. It’s simply the case of offering a product and fulfilling the demand. Not too long ago, that was the only demand we filled. But we grew, we expanded, we got better, smarter, faster – and in spite of the doom, we are growing. Rapidly.

It’s raining out there… You know the prize.

You have a choice to slam on the brakes or throttle.

(for a moment we’ll have to ignore how that strategy eventually worked out for Senna)