I’m sure you’ve noticed that everything has changed.  Business is not as it was even six months ago.  As business continues to change you need to rethink your philosophy about how you run your business. 

Some of the most aggressive companies have pulled back from their expansion plans.  For example: there is one particular coffee house that had plans of opening an incredible number of new units.  Although they already dominated the coffee house market, they wanted to dominate the world.  But everything changed.  Instead of opening hundreds of units a year they are closing approximately a thousand units and laying off a large number of people at corporate headquarters.  Why?  Because in the new reality of business it’s not about how big your company is, it’s about  your company earning a profit.  It’s about the bottom line of your profit and loss statements.

Under the old business philosophy it was believed that the larger you were, the more you could use size to reduce your costs and increase your profits.  But in this terrible economy, airlines, retail, manufacturers and all other businesses are downsizing and rethinking how best to conduct business. 

When you think about running your business, put your ego aside.  Put away the old business philosophies and business models.  Think through a business plan that will be appropriate in the ever-changing, uncertain business climate and will also be profitable in this down economy.