Moving Forward in “Today’s Economy”

Light on The Sleeping Indian

A full month has officially passed in 2012. How are you resolutions coming along? Are you lulling yourself back into your habitual patterns, or are you moving forward, full-steam ahead with exciting plans to change your life for the better? Many people don’t feel accomplishing your goals is possible because of “today’s economy.”

“Today’s economy” is a phrase that I typically avoid because it paints a very bleak picture with little hope for anyone outside of the elite rich. If you look a little closer though, you see much more going on than just businesses all over the country collapsing.

While you certainly do see large businesses taking a significant hit, you also see something amazing happening with individuals: sole proprietors and smaller, locally-owned businesses are thriving! Even in just photography, you see more photographers than ever successfully pursuing their passions, among many other fields. You can even see it outside of the creative realm; employees of larger companies simply quitting because the call of being self-employed is simply too tempting to ignore. With so many people making a successful transition as well, the fear of failure is also diminishing.

So what is going on here? If the economy is really collapsing, then how come so many self-employed people are thriving the way they are? It’s simple. I personally see “today’s economy” as the world simply changing the way it does business. You can see that companies that don’t fully grasp the Internet and social media are the ones that are getting left behind. What does that mean for you? It means there has never been a better time in history to follow your dreams and pursue your passion because thanks to the diversity of life on the Internet, there is now a market for absolutely any kind of niche you might have. Coupled with social media practices that, compared to marketing practices prior to the Internet, take hardly any time to learn, you have any and all opportunities just waiting for you to pounce on them. Every creative idea “in today’s economy” has enormous potential for success. Even Allen Murabayashi of PhotoShelter believes that this is the golden age of photography.

As John Muir once said, “The power of imagination makes us infinite.” We’re now one month into 2012. What are you doing to accelerate your business and life? Where are you going to allow your imagination to take you in “today’s economy”?

No Comments

  1. It is a golden age for photography, it is also harder (some would say much harder) to make a living as a photographer than, let say, just a decade ago.

  2. Great post, Mike. What I find interesting is that I’ve increased revenue every year in the last 5 years, in spite of the poor economy.  Last year was my best yet, by a long shot.  I think there are some terrific opportunities being presented for those with the right mindset and abilities to take advantage of them.

  3. Great article – I agree it is the world changing how it does business…. It’s funny you wrote this just now – I was pretty lazy in January but over the last week I sorted out my goals and how I will reach them and of course photography plays a big part (I hope) in that future!! Your blogs and photography are a big inspiration to me – thanks for always having great insights!!

  4. Great article Mike, full of optimism during a tough time. When the economy is good I think people find too much comfort in a paycheck. When you don’t have that paycheck you get creative. Many don’t want to risk the paycheck to be an entrepreneur but it is merely survival if you don’t have that paycheck, no risk.

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