It’s a great post, full of common-sense-optimism, that makes a change from the doom-and-gloom we’ve all seen of late. He talks about why decision makers are moving away form bigger companies as their service provider to smaller, more flexible companies. He argues that ultimately this comes down to trust between people, not brands:

Small is the new big. Sustainable is the new growth.
Trust is the new competitive advantage.

What stood out to me from this article is the following paragraph:

Big investment banks are burning — but lots of small boutique firms, each with ten to twelve people, are opening up. And they’re doing well. They’ve gone back to the fundamentals. Finding a niche in which they have value to add and deals in which they are experts. And then sitting across from other people in the deal, building the relationship, making reasonable commitments, and following through.

This resonated with me, because this is exactly what characterises our company — we’re a handful of talented developers, experts in PHP, who strive to build lasting relationships with our clients. We’re not looking to build the next <insert company name as appropriate>.  We’re building a company that offers expert PHP systems development, consultation and training, to other small and medium companies in Ireland, UK and beyond, and we’re not going away any time soon.

Thanks to Conor O’Neill (@conoro) of LouderVoice for spotting this article and tweeting about it.

For instance small companies are confronted and struggling to get users at this time of the year (Not only in the tech and IT industry) but in all industries, and what we have been doing for a few months when companies come to us is quite simple, take what’s working, take what’s not working, flip it in all sides, find a new way and easier way of accomplishing the tasks you want done and go with it. There’s a term I heard from one of the lead developers from a VoIP company that I thought was well worded for the current economic situation: “Grow a pair and do it“.

One way or the other it’s going to be hard, might as well have fun and try to make things better. Brainstorm new ideas, take the freshly baked ideas you have and shift them around in all ways and come out of it with style.

There are a few articles I read that I find really interesting. One is basically a very good list of things you SHOULD have in mind and do. The title is 7 Ways Innovation can recession-proof your business which basically says it all I believe.

The second one I fancy is the 10 worst mistakes you can do in a recession. It outlines things I have seen many startups have been doing. One of which is basically firing their talents.

It outlines that you should not fire your talents and I am 100% agreeing with this and I would even add that in recession time, you want to make sure to keep them. Take care of ‘em, make ‘em enjoy working, otherwise, other people/companies are looking for talented people to innovate and they will take them away from your and you may loose some important experience and ideas.

Another point I really fancy and I actually do find important is the last point. It goes as follows:

10) Retreat Into Walled Castles. Cutting back on outside consultancies is seen as a quick way to save money. Yet one of the key ways of introducing change into business culture is to bring in outside innovation and design consultants. They know what companies across a broad range of industries around the world are doing to promote change. Not receiving this information can hurt a company’s global competitive position.

Using consultancies can be pricey, however, they really do have a broader experience and their eyes are always opened to the world and by working with other companies, they have a better or often a vast idea of what is happening in other companies. Keep that in mind at all times. Even if it’s bringing a consultancy for a few days to illuminate and comment on your upcoming product and new strategies, it may be VERY beneficial for your future.

All this post to say two things: Innovate. Don’t stop, don’t turn conservative, because you will fall as many others are already doing. It’s also to give a good thumbs up to all the other companies who are either taking a step ahead and going forward by innovating or to all the other companies who keep innovating as much as they were before the “recession” started!