#4-How Entrepreneurs Are Surviving the Financial Crisis

This is the last in our series on what specific steps entrepreneurs are taking to survive the slow economy.  In this post we feature Jennifer Folsom, Director of Mom-Entum Resources (http://www.mom-entum.com/). The company matches high-performing individuals with part time work.  Jennifer notes the following about their operations given the current state of the economy:

“Mom-entum is one of those companies actually doing better and seeing more business during the down economy. Clients call us and say, ‘We can’t afford someone full time in this position, do you have anyone part time for us?’ One of our dads has a son in preschool. He does SEO work (search engine optomization) from 9am to 12pm each day. That’s the only time he’s available. The clients have no problem with that, and are happy to have someone for an hour or two a day versus an entire IT person or department working on this. The companies KNOW they can’t reduce their marketing efforts in this economy, but, they can work smart. That’s what we’ve noticed they are trying to do when they approach us about our portfolio of part time workers.”

 Suggested exercise:

1. Read the article below about IBM. Discuss the “slow economy survival strategies” mentioned in the first paragraphy and what the mean. What are high-margin products and geographic diversity? Google terms where you don’t know them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090513/bs_nm/us_ibm

Extra: Also refer to the free  EITC curriculum (financial section) for further instruction on financial statements and financial terms.Subscribe to our blog to receive automatic updates to your favorite newsreader. See the “Subscribe” button at the top of the column to the right.

2. Have a discussion about what other businesses might do well in a financial downturn. Do an internet search and/or talk with business owners to find between one and five types of businesses that are doing well in a slow economy.

Extra: Extrapolate three key learnings from these businesses, and discuss how they can apply to a business that is struggling.

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