https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Sales & Marketing


Nine Tips for Succeeding In Uncertain Economic Times

  • Written by Stuart Crawford 1
  • March 7, 2008

There is no secret sauce to help you thrive in uncertain economic times. But IT professionals can follow nine simple and effective principles — which will serve you well regardless of the economy around you.

1. Passion – You must love what you do, this is a must! You must love it so much that during these uncertain economic times, tough job markets or whatever road blocks are put up to slow you down, that you survive and are not beaten up. You have to love what you do so much that you would want to do it for free. The question I always ask other IT professionals is this: Do you love what you do? If the answer is yes, perfect. If the answer is no, then I recommend that they go pursue what they love. Passion is a must to be successful.

2. Hard work – When you have fire burning in your belly, hard work isn’t really hard work; however to the outside observer looking in they might say “You work way too hard.” When you have the combination of passion and hard work, time just seems to fly by, your revenues increase, you have happy clients and you are on the road to success and nothing will get in your way of your achieving your goals. Having the ability to work hard when you need to will allow you to take the time to play as well. This is the secret ingredient to achieving work/life balance.

3. What are you good at? – Pick what you are good at and do that. Many entrepreneurs try to do too much, they spread themselves to thin and become good at nothing. Have you heard the old saying “Jack of all trades, master at nothing”? Mastery in your chosen trade is a necessity to becoming a success story and not a statistic in failed businesses. When you achieve mastery in your trade, you work harder and your passion level increases.

4. Focus – You must have laser sharp focus, when you are focused on your end goal or what you want to achieve you are well down the road to success. Focus allows all the other components mentioned so far to work together. Many people wonder around in today’s small business world with a head full of distractions, never accomplishing anything. Successful people know what they want, they focus on it, and they work hard to achieve the results in their plan.

5. Self Confidence – You must be confident in what you do. It is impossible for you to know it all. You need to have enough confidence to tackle any task that comes your way. I have seen many great IT professionals limit themselves because they lack the self confidence to push themselves into unchartered waters and have the ability to come out the other end in one piece.

6. Focus on Value –
You have to provide value to your clients, if you don’t someone else will. Successful IT professionals wake up in the morning and approach the day with the mindset of serving the community, serving their clients, serving their colleagues and so on. When you provide value you are guaranteed to be successful in the small business IT marketplace.

7. Engage Right Brain Thinking –
Don’t get me wrong, we must have left brain technical thinkers in the IT community, however, if you are a solo entrepreneur or a small business consultant, you must invest in developing your right brain. Be creative, come up with ideas, network and build connections with others, solve challenges, and simply listen to others and understand what they are saying.

8. Persistence – Never give up, work through any challenge or issue, work through the difficult clients, when the future looks bleak don’t throw in the towel, work through it, you need to persist through your failures and persist to get better on your own success. Nothing in the world is perfect, the successful ones in business today understand this and are persistent in improving on what they have work on or what others have work on.

9. Continuous Learning – You have to be a continuous learner, and not always in your profession, learn something outside your industry, maybe it is a musical instrument or a course at your local college, and this will engage your right brain thinking. Also it is critical important to learn about items in your business focus as well. Read, watch documentaries, find a mentor, attend seminars and the list goes on. You must sharpen your own saw at all times and also invest time to help others with their learning needs as well.

We are in uncertain economic times, if you don’t believe me listen to local, regional, business or national news sometime this week. Don’t use this as an excuse not to go after your dreams and your passions. It is time to embrace the changes that are coming (economically and technically) and go after it. There is a tremendous amount of business out there, you just need to go out and get it. The majority of our peers will sit back and complain about something, don’t give into this sort of behavior, go after what is out there and win in 2008.

Stuart Crawford provides mentoring services to Microsoft Small Business Specialists across the world. His third book on Goal Setting is now released at http://www.goalsettingforitprofessionals.com. Join his free monthly IT Professional conference calls at http://www.freeitmarketingseminar.com.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Sales & Marketing

Related


  • Welcome to the Future_white CF logo
    Welcome to the Future
    Channel Partners Online and Channel Futures are ushering in a new era for the channel community.
  • Number One
    Fortanix Partners Get First Partner Program with New Channel Leader
    Fortanix built the program to fuel global growth.
  • Acceleration
    IBM, Red Hat to Speed Adoption of Celonis EMS Platform
    The IBM and Red Hat partnership is part of Celonis' overall growth strategy.
  • AT&T Alliance Channel Recognizes Top Partners
    The top five solution providers landed in the top tier last year.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • 6 Big Trends Shaping the Managed Services Market
  • Cisco Live! Day One: Focus on SASE, Passwordless, Purchasing Models
  • Microsoft Office 365 Business Booming for MSPs
  • Court Swings in Zoom's Favor in Ongoing Zoom-RingCentral Court Battle

Galleries

View all

Cloud Communications Market Rocked by Microsoft, COVID-19 in 2020

April 12, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

Why Every MSP Should Consider TCO When Selecting a BCDR Solution

April 9, 2021

6 Ways to Ready Your Customers for 5G Security Challenges

April 5, 2021

Endpoint Security Is Huge in the Merging New World of Work

April 2, 2021

Webinars

View all

Top 3 Intel Security Technologies To Help Against Advanced Cybercrime Attacks

April 15, 2021

What to Look For: 2021 Threat Report

April 22, 2021

Health Care and SD-WAN: A Seller’s Guide

April 27, 2021

White Papers

View all

Top Tips: How Resellers Can Leverage Rackspace to Enhance Customer’s Cyber Security Protection with Microsoft 365 Security

March 30, 2021

Top Tips: Optimize Your Microsoft 365 Investment with Rackspace Technology

March 30, 2021

The Smart Approach to Cloud Workload Placement Decisions

March 19, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

MSP Summit

November 1, 2021 - November 2, 2021

Channel Evolution Europe

November 30, 2021 - December 1, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

FASTCHAT: How Fortinet Reduces Complexity Through Networking, Security

Strong Customer Experience Needs Strong Partner Experience

December 22, 2020

Happy Holidays from Channel Partners & Channel Futures!

December 21, 2020

2021 Excellence in Digital Services Awards App Open

December 9, 2020

Twitter

ChannelFutures

Our latest programs roundup includes @TCGPartners, @CloudBoltSW, @Informatica, @Claroty and @netsapiens.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 12, 2021
ChannelFutures

RT @buffynaylor: https://t.co/jSLmLopfGL

April 12, 2021
ChannelFutures

RT @Craig_Galbraith: Important info here from our @EdwardGately about lingering impacts of the #MicrosoftExchange hack, plus #VMware vulner…

April 12, 2021
ChannelFutures

"Who could ask for more?? These guys bring an awesome energy and always highlight the need-to-know of the channel..… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 10, 2021
ChannelFutures

Anti-Asian racism, and racism and discrimination of all forms, have zero place in our society. #StopAsianHate and t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 9, 2021
ChannelFutures

MSSP @inc_renaissance promotes Trish Kapos to channel chief. #cybersecurity dlvr.it/RxLQ6g https://t.co/oWCdHeRqIW

April 9, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@GetSpectrum ordered to pay @Windstream more than $19 million for deceptive mailer. #lawsuit… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 9, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@Percona says channel can help with #opensource solutions and #databases for everything from aspirational to must-… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 9, 2021

MSSP Insider

Business advice for MSSPs and news from the broader security channel.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X