With the national elections behind us and a president and congress selected we are now in a position to take a deep breath and ask ourselves where we go from here. President Obama alluded to the path he would take with his campaign slogan “Forward”. But what exactly does forward mean? Does it mean that we don’t look back at the last four years and analyze both the successes and failures to see what can be learned from them? Does it mean that we blindly keep going forward in the direction that was started four years ago without regard for the time it will take to get to the end goal? Or does it mean that we now take stock in where we are and how we got here and select the best path that will allow the country to move forward towards its goal … a strong economy with full employment?
I don’t have a crystal ball and I can’t predict what will happen over the next four years but I can assure you that with 52% of the people voting for a candidate that ran on social issues rather than economic issues that it will not bode well for small business. The president has already stated that he feels the election is a mandate to continue down the slow winding road that the country has been on for the last four years. Okay, as business people we must accept our fate and decide where we go from here. Since the government will not be trying any new strategies it is imperative that small business owners step up and try to make their businesses successful in spite of what roadblocks may exist.
I suggest that small businesses look back at the last four years and determine what worked and what didn’t work. I’m not talking only about marketing strategies but also those facets of the business that performed well and those that under performed. In my business, commercial real estate, I saw that my two core business categories performed poorly and that a couple of smaller categories performed surprisingly well. I’ve decide to focus my
concentration over the next year on the two smaller categories to make them equally as large as my two core business categories. While I won’t abandon my two core categories I will not focus assets on these categories until I see renewed potential for growth. When the economy improves my firm will have four core business categories rather than two. There is nothing wrong with that!
Where will your company go from here? Down the same slow winding road along with the government or will you set a new path that will allow your firm to succeed and strengthen the economy?
Edward Boyle
CEO, Employing Broker
Katchen Company
Katchen Company, founded in 1962, is an integrated real estate company with its corporate headquarters in Lakewood, Colorado. The company offers real estate development, redevelopment, property management, brokerage, consulting services, construction oversight and maintenance services to individual and institutional real estate investors throughout the greater Denver metropolitan area in Denver with satellite offices in Chicago, Las Vegas and Miami market areas.
