Liberation Day

Recently, Trump announced a universal 10% tariff on all imported goods, with more to come, as a corrective measure to unequal foreign tariffs on US goods and as a revenue-raising strategy to help finance sweeping tax cuts they hope to announce later this year. 

The markets responded negatively because markets like stability and continuity, not uncertainty – and since we all really don’t know how long these tariffs will be in place and how other countries will respond, everyone’s going to hold their breath for a minute. I can say that we ARE in a downturn and have been sliding for the last 18 months – but that’s another story for another day.

But the real question here is not whether you think this is a good idea, bad idea, right or wrong, a necessary short-term pain to secure a longer-term gain. 

You simply need to figure out what YOU are going to do in YOUR business, this week, this month and this year. Everything else is noise and distraction.

I’ve been in business long enough to have gone through three major recessions. The first in 2001 after 9/11 and the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession in 2008 and, of course, the Rona in 2020. 

In every case, here’s what happened. 1) The majority of business owners freaked out, bent over and just accepted there was “nothing to be done,” letting the losses pile up. 2) A smaller percentage adjusted to market conditions but never took their foot off the gas pedal, continuing to grow and profit. Maybe not as much as in previous boom times, but far outpacing their competition. 3) A tiny minority got very, very rich. 

When we hit the next major recession, which one will you choose to be?

Another way of putting it: WHEN the shit hits the fan, how will YOU react? 

The IT services industry, like many industries, is soft right now and has been for the last 18 months. The year 2024, particularly in the last two quarters, showed slowing in market demand, with inbound leads significantly down, projects taking longer to close and greater price sensitivity. Many thought there would be a lift in Q1 after the election from pent-up demand, but many MSPs are still flat and many businesses are only seeing “growth” from raising prices to combat inflationary costs and increased salaries – not actual productivity.

Since we cannot control any of this, we have a choice to make. Roll over and take it, pointing fingers and placing blame on the economy, the government, the stupidity of people OR go back to basic principles of running a stable, profitable business. Double down on the customers you have. Look for new problems to solve. Keep your marketing alive and your sales force in play. Do what we KNOW works. You know, FIGURE IT OUT.

Because no matter what’s going on around you, you still have a business to run. Even on the morning after the farmer’s wife dies, he has to get up and milk the cows. Harsh, but true. It’s also, in some weird way, probably good for the farmer.

I’ve always got cows to milk in the form of things to improve, projects to work on, money to get, opportunities to find. If you are committed to your business, there will be economic setbacks. When the China virus shut us down as a company, causing me to have to write refund checks that totaled nearly $1 million in under 30 days, coupled with the loss of sales we could not make, we survived because we got to work. 

People are either destroyed by the pressure to perform or they respond with resilience and strength. Bob Marley said, “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.”

Recessions come and go. Tariffs change. Markets shift. But one thing stays the same—you still have a business to run. At The IT Sales And Marketing Boot Camp, we focus on what you can control: how to get leads, close sales and build a business that weathers any storm. While others wait and worry, you’ll be working a plan that gets results. Register now.