Issue #70 When a burning house is a good thing
Have you heard? There is supposed to be a recession. Or maybe not. Who knows.
It seemed that the recession side of the argument was gaining ground until Q4 growth came in at 2.9%, beating estimates. Still, the Conference Board continues to predict a slow-down in 2023.
So, this made me think: when is a burning house a good thing?
More on that in a second.
First some Updates
😩 Have you ever hired the wrong person? We discussed this in the last Business Q&A and have some suggestions on what to do next. A couple of lessons we’ve learned is that often hiring the wrong person means that you haven’t hired for values or defined your processes well enough. And, then, sometimes, it’s just the wrong person. Listen to the full discussion here.
🙉 Have you heard that ChatGPT is changing everything? Well, the imminent demise of humans may be somewhat exaggerated. This video nicely explains the changes afoot. And if you want to delve deeper, check out the wise and thoughtful Christina DiGiacomo’s talk tomorrow; learn more here.
🎧 Our latest podcast on Onboarding customers is available for your aural enjoyment here. We talk about how an onboarding snafu created a business nightmare and how you can avoid a similar fate while making your offer more valuable.
Whether something is good or bad depends on perspective.
Now, many people would think that a Zillow listing of a mansion with flames coming out of the roof would be a reason not to buy.
A burned-out house seems to be unequivocally bad, like a recession.
And then along comes someone like Mike Thakur, who saw the burning house, called his real estate agent and made an offer.
When is a burnt house an irresistible gold mine?
Mr. Thakur has a plan: he will create a Youtube channel documenting the house’s renovation. He figures that he’ll build on the popularity of the flame-engulfed residence on Zillow to create a following.
Maybe he’ll make some money out of it.
One person’s trash is another’s treasure.
And a recession, it turns out, isn’t bad for everybody. Certainly, it is painful for many, but others do quite well. While the economic house is burning, they make their fortunes.
According to Bank of America, the top 8 business areas in a recession are:
- Candy (yep).
- Repairs (fix the old, rather than buy new).
- Childcare (because children don’t go away).
- Niche food stores (small luxuries).
- Freelance and temp work.
- Static businesses (like funeral homes, accounting, and infrastructure).
- Health and fitness.
- Sin industries (think alcohol and casinos).
So maybe we should all be starting candy businesses… they could do well, and we can eat the leftovers!
But the actual point is that while burning houses and recessions sound bad, somebody will turn it into an opportunity.
A recession isn’t a time to hide – it is a shifting of the economic winds, and some companies emerge stronger. So the real question is, how can you take advantage of a possible recession?
🙋🏽 Our Next Business Q&A
Is Coming Up on Friday, February 10 at 11 AM Eastern
This week’s focus will be on business stuff. So let us know what business questions keep you awake at night: click here to register a question.
The meeting link (and reminders) will go out to Insiders in a separate email.
