Small business owners have experienced an extended stretch of one piece of bad news after another. Just when most of us think that it could not possibly get any worse, another significant negative development seems to emerge. Many of these problems are due to (1) an ongoing weak economy that started to go downhill in 2004 and then worsened during the next four years to a crisis level and (2) a continuation of severe bank difficulties that also started during a similar timeframe. First and foremost, small businesses should recognize that these are serious problems that are not going to vanish based on who wins one election or another. The worst obstacles took years to develop and will probably take even longer to effectively resolve. Second, some of the most critical problem situations reflect massive underlying changes in the financial system. Approaches that might have worked before are no longer likely to have the same favorable impact. Third, these are also not circumstances which will get better on their own. In other words, be very skeptical of any suggestions that time alone will provide the solution. Having said that, many small business problems keep recurring in one way or another, and therefore small business owners should place a higher priority on formulating small business solutions which will help to avoid, minimize or eliminate those specific problem areas. It is not being overly dramatic to suggest that business survival might hinge on the outcome of these problem solving efforts. While each individual situation will be unique in many ways, there is still much to be learned from evaluating how similar cases have been approached effectively by others. Likewise it might prove to be even more helpful to learn what in fact has regularly failed to work. Some cautionary comments are in order at this point. It cannot be emphasized enough that there are no quick and easy solutions to these exceptionally complex problems. As noted above, there have been serious disruptions to the economy and the entire banking system. Traditional commercial loans are no longer available from most banks, so reducing business debt and operating expenses must be considered as a prudent alternative to obtaining additional working capital financing. On a related note, commercial borrowers should increasingly consider whether they should fire their banker in favor of alternative funding sources when their bank has proven inadequate for their immediate and future needs. It has been suggested that "banks are the problem, not the solution", and this observation should serve as a constant reminder that prudent problem-solving cannot rely on traditional small business solutions. Stephen Bush is a small business expert who has worked with small business owners for over 30 years. Steve serves as a small business consultant throughout the United States and Canada. He specializes in business bank consulting and commercial lender negotiating.
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