One of the many benefits of running Atlantic BT is the opportunity to meet an incredible range of business owners on a regular basis. Many companies in all types of businesses only work with one type of customer. We are exposed to a spectrum of businesses across nearly every industry. In this downturn I have come to easily recognize the traits of the two types of personalities that operate America’s small business.

The first I’ll call “the survivor”. The survivor is looking to do everything he possibly can to improve and insulate his or her business from any possible hardship. In many cases they are looking for ways to grow their market share and dominate their competition.

The second I’ll call “the ostrich”. The ostrich looks for ways to hide from the world, sticking its head in the sand and reducing risk by avoiding making any decisions at all.

History has shown that in a short recession the ostrich will likely survive but will emerge weaker than competitors who seized the opportunity to gain competitive advantage. In a longer recession the ostrich is more likely to vanish as the business ultimately can’t be sustained without making important marketing and strategic decisions. The very strategy the business owner believes is safe will ultimately cause their demise. After all making no decision is a decision in itself. In any type of recession the survivor is likely to gain market share and emerge in much stronger position than more hesitant peers. I came across an interesting spot that supports this point, Giant Companies Born During a Downturn.

Like usual we are taking our own advice and are moving forward on a variety of different strategies to consolidate our market share and continue to grow just as we have for the last 5 years (60% in 2008 alone). For competitive reasons I won’t share exactly what our strategies are but if you are a small business owner looking for advice, feel free to drop me a line or use our Questions and Answers area to ask a question that might also be helpful to others.