It's no secret to anyone breathing that in the US we are in the worst financial crisis of most of our lifetimes. If you are worried about your business you are certainly not alone! The next few days bring great uncertainty about what the governernment is going to do to try and help. Will they bail out the banks, or will the hard line republicans win out and nothing will be done immediately? Who knows! What is clear is that the vast majority of Americans are very unhappy with the situation and not keen on sinking billions of dollars into saving an industry known for greed.

Unfortunately, a bailout certainly isn't the end of  troubles for us small business owners. The economy is in deep trouble and not likely to turn around very quickly. CNN money has an article today The Bailout What's At Stake that  talks in detail about what may likely happen. The good news is the writer believes that we are unlikely to experience the level of unemployment seen in the great depression. The bad news is that things are ugly and likely to get worse before they get better. And they are not going to get better quick!

You are unlikely to be able to get the credit you may want to expand your business in the near future. So what to do? I can't tell you what to do, but I have always been a strong supporter of low cost direct  marketing style approaches in my businesses. I suggest that you start rethinking all the creative ways you can seek out more revenue at a minimum cost. That means not only getting new customers at minimum  costs, but even more importantly selling more services to the ones you already have. The problem is that not only are you going to have problems getting credit to expand, many of us are likely to have problems even surviving the next couple of years. Consumers  have already started to severely limit their  spending,  and it is going to be ever harder get new customers or even maintain the ones you have.

If you own a business and are not worried you are either in a recession proof business or have your head in the sand. What do you think?