Don't Quit When the Road Gets Bumpy

As women of a certain age, we're fortunate to have lived through challenging times before. Many of us also have parents who lived through the Depression and shared stories of how they survived.

Most of us have struggled through being young homemakers on a tight budget, and we've learned how to pinch a penny, stretch a dollar--and have a good life  while doing so.

This month we reconnected with women we've profiled in this column before to see how they're approaching these challenging times.

Susan Knapp of A Perfect Pair from Napa Valley has seen growth in her business this year, but she's been affected by the tightening of credit and investment dollars.

Knapp runs a lean operation, so when I heard that sales were increasing, my natural reaction was, "Great." What I didn't take into account is that producing product-to-service growth requires an infusion of capital. That is Knapp's current challenge--where to find increased working capital when lending has virtually dried up.

Here's what she's done to weather the crisis:

1. She reviewed her operations and reduced her staff to the most essential and productive members of her team.

2. She's rewriting her business plan to reflect the new requirements of potential investors and lenders, making it shorter and more to the point.

3. She's exploring different payment and discount options with her customer base.

4. She's increasing her networking and working hard to spread the word of her interests and needs.

What Knapp is not doing is crying, "Woe is me!"

Lynne Lambert of nycsubwayline.com is stretching her marketing dollars:

1. She's stepping away from a big, expensive trade show and using the money saved to finance a photo shoot to upgrade her website.

2. She's branching out to new retail outlets.

3. She's participating in the famous Union Square Holiday Market, braving winter weather outdoors in New York.

4. She's working with a marketing guru to learn how to grow her line to the next level despite the economy.

Like Knapp, Lambert isn't wasting time sulking about the changes, and instead is adapting to the market.

Capabilities owners Kathryn Arbour and Pam Pressel have made a number of changes this year in anticipation of the financial crunch:

1. They put off new hiring.

2. They increased prices twice--earlier in the year to compensate for higher gas prices, and more recently as a hedge for the financial problems they're facing. Still, the price increases don't cover the rising costs imposed by their suppliers.

3. They've combined products and discounts for value-added enticements.

4. They restructured debts with banks and suppliers.

5. They're negotiating with their landlord in a bid to free up cash for additional inventory and for marketing purposes.

6. They've increased all marketing efforts that don't cost real dollars, such as networking, writing articles and blogs, and offering educational seminars inside their store.

According to Arbour and Pressel, the company shows overall growth for this year, for which the two are grateful.

Barbara Staib of Safe Home Products is looking at slightly different details to keep her business sharply focused:

1. She's rewriting descriptions of products to make them more spider- and customer-friendly.

2. She's reducing internet advertising when the ROI is unprofitable.

3. She's trying to limit her inventory, moving to a just-in-time philosophy.

4. She's following up on corporate accounts to make sure payments are timely.

Knapp, Lambert, Arbour, Pressel and Staib are After 55 entrepreneurs who continue to teach us that attention to detail is critical, tapping into our wells of creativity and a can-do spirit is essential, and spreading our messages doesn't always cost thousands of dollars.

Be sharp. Be creative. Be successful.