I had a brief discussion with a friend earlier today about the economy and predictions that come and go regarding its upward climb. I’ll throw in my two cents, the skeptic and cynic that I am. Based solely on leads and inquiries from prospective new clients to the Sozo Firm network, since January of 2009, we’ve experienced two “economic upward climbs.” The first took place during the end of February/early March when it seemed businesses all of a sudden let loose on the tight reigns on their marketing divisions and everyone started thinking about the bright and sunny tomorrow when cash was flowing freely again. Leads and inquiries were plentiful.
And, then, almost as suddenly as it started, everything became quiet once again. I’m going to guess that was mid-March. Now, perhaps if I looked at some reports from Wall Street or the Fed during that time, I’d see a correlation between the sudden oasis drying up, but I’m not doing any major investigative report (hey, we’re busy right now & time is precious). I’m just throwing a couple indicators at everyone which are dear to our hearts – the leads we receive as a company working hard during these quieter times.
The second climb back upward started about two or three weeks ago for us. It reminds us all too much of the late Feb/early March sunbeams that shown our way, so we’re being very, very careful about any expectations we develop from all of this. However, the question does linger in the back of our minds: Is this the real climb back up? Should we plan to be swamped in the near future with endless jobs and calls and leads? Should we increase the staff’s workload and hours? Should we resume the search for talented employees, particularly with the bounty being plentious?
I don’t know if the economy is turning back around. For all I know, it may take another 6 months or a year or even more. Perhaps some companies who have been carefully stockpiling assets in the bank are planning to strengthen their online presences now before the upswing “officially” takes place. Perhaps some overly hopeful people are just hoping awfully hard that consumers will start consuming again and so they’re just putting some feelers out there to get quotes on SEO services, Adword management, internet marketing, etc. Maybe it’s just a late Feb/early March sunbeam breaking free – one that will shortly hereafter be swallowed back up by the dark rainy clouds and hidden for months to come.
But in the midst of my cynical skepticism, I like to hope sometimes. Last year at this time, we were swamped to our wader suspenders. It was fun, to a degree. But I’ve enjoyed having some more time lately to spend with my family and friends. The cashflow hasn’t been as plentiful and vacation plans have been put on hold. There’s a fine line between being too busy and being busy just right.
I’ll welcome the economic upswing – so many of my business partners, friends, family & acquaintances are affected; but perhaps I’ll be careful to not bite too much off the next piece of rich chocolate cake God gives me. It will be good for my summer diet challenge my wife & I are having anyway.
