Are you swimming naked?

"When the tide goes out, you find out who’s been swimming naked." Warren Buffett

Now that the "tide" appears to be flowing out, all you need to do is watch the news to see who the "naked" companies are… Banking giants like Citibank, home builders and everyone who supplies them — even Starbucks, who had to shut down to retrain staff this week.

All this negative news has begun to impact consumer confidence. And that means even more companies will be exposed with "their shorts down" soon.

But all is not doom and gloom — at least, not for those who are prepared. Downturns, like the one caused by the mortgage mess in the US, can mean good things to entrepreneurs.

• As selling gets harder, companies pull back, leaving the space open to those who understand the art of selling.
• The Internet is a global market… and so bad times in one market doesn’t mean all markets are affected.
• Employees, vendors, suppliers, suddenly get a LOT easier to deal with. (After all, they don’t want to lose business… or their jobs!)
  

The upshot is, businesses that are launched in hard times are better equipped to survive than those that became overly reliant on surplus spending.

Here’s why: New businesses…

• Project an optimism that is infectious… and buyers react positively to the difference.
• Are built upon up-to-date market research… And they use pricing strategies that are in sync with the economic realities of the day.
• Don’t carry the bloated overhead that older ones have become addicted to — and can’t wean themselves from. .
  

So if you’re thinking of starting a new business, great news!

There’s still money to be made in ALL markets — and you can thrive and expand in downturns by being in touch with the current marketing reality.

An Internet business is still the best way to profit from a downturn… because the cost of entry is lower than any other business and the upside is enormous.

On top of that, an Internet business is very forgiving. You never have to "bet the farm" on an Internet idea. If something isn’t working, you’ll find out right away and you can either fix it or move on to something better. This is very important! With an Internet business, you’ll never get locked in to a losing proposition.

Now is the time to invest in yourself and the space between your ears!

The knowledge you’ll gain today will position you way ahead of those who are retreating into a "survival mode" mentality. If you’re an entrepreneur you understand that retreat isn’t part of your vocabulary. The time you spend learning about Internet business and marketing strategies — along with the new technologies that make starting an Internet business easier than it ever has been — will pay off in spades.

As many readers know, we’ve been teaching Internet marketing since 1994 through our "Insider Secrets" course. Most of the businesses that got started thanks to our course are seeing no slow down at all.

The one thing we know here at The Internet Marketing Center is that every time we have gone through a recession, our business has actually GROWN.

This is why we’re investing heavily in new products to help our readers get online faster and easier. We’re hosting 5 day Internet Business building clinics around the continent, instead of seminars. We’re having Q&A calls each week. And we’ll continue to add new services to make sure that all of our customers have everything the need to succeed.

Watch for my next article where I’ll share five steps you can take now to prosper in a slow down.

Derek Gehl