Summary: Protecting yourself from recession isn't always easy. You've probably been through a recession or two in your time. And so for people who haven't done this, it's not fun. It's not an exciting time. But I think the first thing that leap to mind for me is not to panic because for a lot of people, that's the go-to strategy, and not necessarily the best one. And you recognize that, okay, things might be different here. Just as they were during the pandemic. They're different, but it doesn't mean that you can't succeed, even while others are struggling.<br> <br> <br> <br> David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, cohost Jay McFarland and I will be discussing the idea of protecting yourself from recession. Welcome back, Jay.<br> <br> <br> <br> Jay: Yeah, thank you for letting me be here. This is a big word that I'm hearing a lot now. The potential for recession, you know, we have a lot of inflation. We've got supply chain issues. You've got real estate issues. And so it's something I think every company should be saying, "okay, what are we going to do if things start to turn south?" Because we really have enjoyed a pretty aggressive economy even through the pandemic.<br> <br> David: Yes we did. I feel a little bad even really talking about this topic. Because I feel like, for some people, they are just getting past pandemic stuff and quarantine and all that kind of thing.<br> <br> Jay: Mm-hmm<br> <br> David: And things seem to be going reasonably well with a lot of businesses at the moment. Sales are up in a lot of businesses compared to last year. But everything we hear in the news is very concerning. And so I thought, okay, well we should at least discuss this. Not from the standpoint of how bad things are, but what can we do about it? Because that's really the big thing.<br> <br> Jay: Yeah, you know, I work with a lot of restaurants and I watched them pivot during the recession. And a lot did very well, but they had to be very smart. Like let's shut down our dining room. Let's go delivery only. Let's go drive-through only.<br> <br> David: Mm-hmm<br> <br> Jay: And it's something they were kind of deciding on the fly. It made me realize that every company should have a plan, not just like "let's hope this doesn't happen. And if it does, we'll figure it out when it does."<br> <br> David: Yeah, it's really amazing. Because some restaurants did really badly and others, who were able to make that switch, have now not only done well during a difficult time, but they've also created a secondary revenue stream for themselves. Whereas before they might not have done takeout, they might not have done a lot of that sort of thing.<br> <br> And those restaurants are doing great now because they still have all the people who are picking stuff up, but then they also have people coming in. But when we look at this, I think, you know, the idea of a recession and thinking in terms of, okay, well, what are some things we can do? And I've been through them before.<br> <br> You've probably been through a recession or two in your time. And so for people who haven't done this, it's not fun. It's not an exciting time. But I think the first thing that leap to mind for me is not to panic because for a lot of people, that's the go-to strategy, and not necessarily the best one.<br> <br> And you recognize that, okay, things might be different here. Just as they were during the pandemic. They're different, but it doesn't mean that you can't succeed, even while others are struggling.<br> <br> Jay: Yeah, and for me, it's always an issue of, okay, we know we're going to have to have cuts. We don't have the revenue coming in. And so where do we start?<br> <br> And oftentimes I see the cuts in what I consider to be the wrong places. Like, okay, the first thing to go, it seems like always to me is marketing, right?<br> <br> David: Marketing, right.<br>
