The end of one era always signals the beginning of another. The high times of the real estate boom gave way to the struggle of the recession. Those of you who know me heard me say many times, you never want to let a good recession go to waste. Recessions are a great time to invest, so now we're seeing that a lot of people who had the cash and were able to do so are reaping the rewards. Don't get me wrong, there are more people who struggled and lost a lot during the recession than those that were able to take advantage of it. I had lunch the other day with a good friend of mine who owns a fairly small company which at one point had about 80 financial institutions as clients. During the first few years of the recession he lost 50 of those clients because of bank failures and/or acquisitions. Today he is proud to say he has regained all of that lost business and is ready to continue to grow past his last milestone. His story is one worth repeating, as well as trying to replicate, but most people will never hear about it.

It seems that while the market has been showing signs of regaining its footing for quite a while, analysts and those in the trenches have been slow to declare a full recovery. Some say that today's analytics clearly show that the market doesn't look like it will return to pre-crash levels anytime soon, that we are in a period of relative normalcy again. I personally don't like relative normality, whatever that means. I think that times have proven that while normality is good for large corporations, it doesn't really do most of us any good if it's navigating through the volatile that makes most of us valuable as service providers. Lack of normalcy spells opportunity for those who can adapt and help others adapt to industry changes. That said, I'm still a big believer that you can ignore what the market and major industry trends are doing. Most businesses are small businesses. Most people and companies will never make it into the Wall Street Journal. Most businesses don't have stock prices that people are following. That's a good thing in many ways; it means that the sky is the limit. It means that if you're willing to work hard, be really good at relationship building, and have a passion for helping others solve their problems, you can be successful regardless of what the market and industry trends are doing.

I had a business coach once who lived by the words, "you are a gnat on a gnat on a gnat."  He didn't say it to belittle, he said it to get the point across that because more than three quarters of all businesses employ less than 50 people, there's an unlimited source of new business. Nobody's really watching what you're doing, so just get out there and do it. Don't allow yourself to make excuses for not getting business because of market circumstances. I got that advice nearly 15 years ago and I've never forgotten it.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes I hear a voice in my head that says, "you're doing the best you can under the circumstances." But I know that I need to squash that voice...ban it from my brain. We make our own circumstances, no matter what and I personally think that's exciting. What about you?

Come join our discussion on our blog, or I welcome your feedback through email.