I'm going to rant a bit about the business professionals who are spouting some of the positive things about the current recession. (Yes, I believe it's a recession.) I'm reading articles written by Realtors stating that it is a 'buying opportunity'. I hear the same thing from my broker. Now the auto dealers are jumping on the band wagon. If you take that thinking into your business you start to say, now is a great time to hire, spend on infrastructure and expand into new markets. That's dangerous thinking.

Going back to the February 2001 bubble burst and the nuclear winter that followed, it was those companies with cash reserves and a maniacal focus on costs that persevered. It's not say that those companies froze in their tracks. Certainly many grew revenues, profit and cash. But additional filters need to be put into the analysis at this point. Those filters ask the questions: what if my sales cycle stretches by three additional weeks?; what if bad debt increases by 5%?; what if the availability of credit tightens further? How does your opportunity analysis change?