If you like being scared no need to wait until Halloween just flick on the television or open the newspaper.

At some point you have to decide who you are going to listen to.  Are you going to  cower in a corner  like a small child and let the talking network heads tell you what your future will be or are you going to grow up and take personal responsibility for your own thoughts, actions and destiny?

Most of the talking heads that are making noise are simply making noise. There is no real basis for their mindless chatter. They sit and stare at the little red light on top of the television camera and pontificate as if they have a crystal ball and can foretell the future. They can’t. I can’t and neither can you or anyone else.

The business reality is that people are still buying stuff and spending money. Lots of money. People are still eating at restaurants, going to movie theaters and shopping at the malls.  People are still buying insurance, houses, cars and clothing and they are still traveling to exotic vacation destinations. Businesses are still buying advertising, computers, office furniture and everything else businesses normally buy.

The bottom line is that people are still buying the stuff you or your company sells. They may not be buying quite as much or spending quite as recklessly as they were but they are still spending trillions of dollars annually.

As I survey my clients across the U.S. and Canada, I find a common theme. Those companies who are excellent at what they do, have a clear vision, a detailed plan, and aggressively go after market share are growing their sales revenues and profits by double digits.

Those who are slovenly, unfocused, half committed and operationally mediocre are struggling or shrinking now that the easy money has disappeared.

Let’s face it. When money is easy anyone can make money. When things tighten up we find out who the real players are.

The beautiful thing about the market is that it always separates those who are performers from those who are pretenders. This shaking out process that culls, cleanses and prunes the market of business imposters is healthy.

Today’s economic climate is not a negative.  It is a great opportunity to leap ahead of your competition and become the dominate player in your market.

Are you excellent at what you do? Do you have a clear vision and written goals? Do you have a detailed written plan to achieve your goals? Are you aggressively going after market share?

Stay tuned. In part three we will talk about specific strategies that can help you become a market leader.