For my small clients who lack financial resources, I wrote in my January Buzz Builder newsletter and blog about how they can take some inexpensive yet effective steps to grow their businesses. Perhaps you readers might find it interesting…
http://blog.galvincomm.com/my_weblog/2009/02/embrace-buzz-refuse-to-participate-in-a-recession.html.

Thanks for you blog. It’s one of the few that I read regularly in my RSS reader.

But we are continuing a long-term strategy that included recently adding a new position, a new national sales manager, and are continuing to evolve and expand the services and product we offer. Also, we’ve budgeted more for marketing this year than ever before.

As Hammock is an “outsource” provider of a certain set of creative and technical services, we are seeing an uptick in requests for proposals that we think may have previously been done by the potential clients’ in-house department that may no longer exist.

We, too, are utilizing more outsourcing. One thing we’re doing (as you know because I’ve sought your insight on this one) is broadening our network of the “partners” we’d like to work with and to include in our RFPs. We’ve always worked with dozens of writers, photographers and illustrators. Now we’re working in the same way with videographers, web developers and other types of companies and individuals.

We are thinking about expanding our retail business if we can get recession level prices on a lease. I am also staying the course with my startups (though I have decided raising money at this stage would be a waste of time).

I am curious what you are doing to take advantage of the situation. Have opportunities started to present themselves?