“The Sun ‘ll Come Out Tomorrow…”

What are you doing in this down economy to prepare yourself for the up economy?

Although the winter season is quickly approaching, now is not the time to hibernate and hide out from a bad economic climate.
During these times of hardship many people are forced to use their ingenuity and creativity to make ends meet.
Yesterday, I had a little boy (probably between 7-10 years old) come to my door selling homemade bread to earn money for his piano lessons. He stated that he wanted to continue to take lessons but needed to earn some money to pay his teacher. While I am not sure about neither the legality of this, or the sanity of his parents who let him go to door to door by himself, I admired his entrepreneurial spirit. I may consider peddling some homemade muffins in order to continue paying my cable bill.
Not really, but you get the idea that people are coming up with new ways to make ends meet.

Sometimes what you do on the side ends up being the more prosperous endeavor. Take for example the following historical events:

David McConnell was selling books door to door in 1886, when the business wasn't so good he started giving perfume out as bonuses to women to get them to buy his books. Finally the perfume was more popular than his books and so he started a company that is known today as Avon.

William Wrigley Jr. started a Chicago based company in 1892 selling soap and baking powder. To encourage people to buy his products he began offering chewing gum as a bonus. As with David McConnell - soon Wrigley's bonus became more popular than the product he was trying to sell. Wrigley changed his company to sell chewing gum and, as they say, the rest is history.

Soichiro Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation during a job interview as “engineer” after World War Two. He continued to be jobless until his neighbors starting buying his “home-made scooters”. Subsequently, he set out on his own to start his own company. Honda. Today, the Company has grown to become the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer and one of the most profitable automakers - beating giant automaker such as GM and Chrysler. With a global network of 437 subsidiaries, Honda develops, manufactures, and markets a wide variety of products ranging from small general-purpose engines and scooters to specialty sports cars.

Don’t let this economy bring you down. Study hard, work hard, play hard and develop skills you need to get you where you want to go. The sun will come out and you need to be ready to run when it does.

Develop persistence.
Believe in yourself.
Build social and verbal skills.
Learn to not take rejection personally.
Continue to invest in yourself.

"If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." -- Benjamin Franklin

“So you gotta hang on ‘til tomorrow...”