The Blueprint

Am I Feeling the Recession?

If you are wondering if your region is in a recession or there is something else affecting your business you might want to check out this map.  It is created from data from Moody's Economics.com.

CommunityWalk Map - Recession by Region

What Happens in Your Shop When You Are Not There?

Working In Your Business vs. Working On Your Business

Every business owner and executive faces the challenge of balancing time between day to day urgent issues and time to work on more strategic issues.  Steven Covey in his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" talks about the P / PC balance.  P is your production and PC is your production capacity.  He says if you are too busy sawing to sharpen your saw, eventually your ability to saw decreases. 

Management time and energy is necessary to bring about change in a business.  Sometimes we are so busy working IN the business that we can't find the time to work ON the business.  It is important for business owners and executives to make the time to work ON the business.  The alternative is to find out that the market has changed around you and it is too late to work ON your business.  The irony is the less time you spend "tweaking" and improving your business model, the more time you spend working IN your business.  It seems that you have to work harder just to keep up.  You are sawing with a dull and soon to be obsolete saw!