Whether you call it Natural Selection or Survival of the Fittest, you can expect to see many of the weak and less agile businesses become prey to the U.S. economy over the next 12 to 18 months. If you are one of the small businesses, don’t be a victim, in fact you can come out of this stronger, leaner and much more competitive. I believe that this recession will create a resurgence in consumer spending at the mom & pop shops rather than the corporate giants.

We have already seen the affects of the down turn in the economy as it has claimed numerous large corporations, like Circuit City, Linen’s and Things, AIG, GM, … the list goes on and on. Consumer spending is down as a whole but that doesn’t mean that your business has to suffer. The businesses that survive this recession will emerge stronger for several reasons. First, many business owners have already made the first move by restructuring their companies, downsizing their workforce, re-negotiating their contracts, eliminating or modifying costly policies & procedures. All of this makes your business more agile and improves its chance of survival. But with consumer spending down how can you protect your revenues? As some businesses will fail this leaves the remaining businesses with competition. The pie may be smaller but that doesn’t mean you have to go hungry, you just need to take a bigger piece.

Do you have a chance against these Goliaths of business? YES. Over the past decade we have seen big business become bigger and bigger (and a little scary), so big that they could not be effectively monitored or regulated. This is why the list of business failures is led by the multi-billion dollar ones like those listed above. This has chipped away at consumer confidence in corporate America, which I believe will make consumers more likely to spend their money locally, with a small business like yours.

So now what? Well don’t be afraid of the recession or those business giants, focus on the internal operations of your business, how and where you spend your money. Work smarter, more effectively and reach out to these local consumers. Rethink how you market your business, if you haven't already done so consider internet marketing.  Now may be the time to redesign your website. The strength of the small business is its ability to adapt, so take advantage of this and make sure your business is running as efficiently as possible.