Small Business Letter From America – How long?

How long?  That’s the question we are all asking. How long will this recession last?

And we have the inevitable follow up questions. How bad will it get? Can my business survive? What should I do?

You have the same questions, I’m sure. This is affecting all of us, worldwide, though differently in each local economy.

So what do we do in our uncertainty? We work. We innovate. We do what we can to help each other. That’s how we make it through a recession, even one lasting several years. One step at a time. That’s how we made it through a decade-long Great Depression, and through austere war years that followed. One step at a time.

My corner of the world, Northwest Oklahoma, is rural, with an economy based on agriculture and energy production. So far, our local economy has stayed strong. But we have reasons to worry. Prices for both cattle and crude oil have dropped. Major construction projects in our capital, Oklahoma City, have been delayed or canceled. Soon, we could be facing a much tighter economy.

Each local economy has its own story. I’d love to hear about yours in the comments.

Becky is a small town entrepreneur in America. She writes about small business and rural issues, based on her own success and failures, at her blog Small Biz Survival. She is the co-owner of a small town retail liquor store and cattle ranch. She also helps tourism related businesses from Oklahoma to Africa to maintain their web presence and rural nonprofits and governments with grant writing and project administration. http://www.smallbizsurvival.com/