The Big One is Coming! That concept of imminent doom threatens us in every area of our lives: hurricanes and earthquakes, terrorism plots, flu pandemics and global warming.

And, entrepreneurs, by and large, remain resilient. They constantly look for dangers and implement reasonable precautions--whatever it takes to keep their businesses humming.

Yet, even this hardy group has a kryptonite weakness: recession.

"Recession depression" leaves business owners wallowing in fear without focus. If this describes you--pondering the mere survival of your business during the current economic trend instead of planning for growth--now would be a great time to employ the following strategies.

Internal Strategies
Embrace the elephant. Don't ignore the proverbial elephant in the room. Acknowledge and discuss the challenges of a recession with key employees. Constructive conversation can re-ignite their commitment, focus their activities, calm their panic and identify where they may need additional training or support.

Redesign your current agreements. Review current contracts and agreements with vendors. Can you renegotiate pricing, ask for special payment terms or reconfigure your requirements to reap some savings? Vendors may not be able to accommodate specific requests, but they can make alternative recommendations to provide relief.

Refine processes and procedures. Slower times in your business create excellent opportunities to redesign systems and procedures to reduce mistakes and enhance sales. You can also find ways to save time and money, such as simplifying fulfillment, streamlining paperwork and enhancing communication between sales and purchasing.

Cut non-impact expenditures. These costs don't directly benefit your bottom line. This is a good time to sell off useless inventory, terminate consistently underperforming employees or eliminate unprofitable product or service lines.

External Strategies
Separate from the pack. Companies that have the courage to separate from the pack and increase their advertising during recessionary times benefit substantially in market share by increasing sales, brand preference and awareness.

Don't cave on price. Every time you lower your prices, you train customers to devalue. This will diminish your brand strength and compromise your profitability. The discounts you offer should be reserved for upgrading, renewing and harnessing loyal and long-term clients.

Reinvent your elevator speech. Look at what you do best and ask yourself how that may benefit your customers during this challenging time. If you don't know, ask your clients. Don't hesitate to alter how you describe your company's services to reflect a value proposition that's recession-sensitive. A recently reworked financial services company's elevator speech became: "We help clients grow during the good times and reduce their risk during the difficult ones."

Drill near the oil. Focus your energies on "super serving" your richest resource: existing and loyal clients. Going the extra mile for these clients by offering them heightened service and support can help preserve and even expand your business with them during a recession.

Most companies adopt a herd mentality when coping with a recession by bailing out of everything as intently as a frantic boater bails out water of his sinking ship. Historically, most recessions last 18 months, and this window of time allows highly focused companies the opportunity to not only survive but also get an edge on the competition.