Business and economic news is the worst in decades. The cliché, of course, is: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. And sometimes - the faster they fall. Consider Countrywide Financial, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and Lehman Bros. And don't forget Enron and others from the past. Other large companies are in jeopardy and even more, deep-pocketed multinationals are feeling the heat.

But what about the little guy? What about Small Business? How can the corner store owner survive the next few years?

MOBI has a high regard for The Dilenschneider Group, a sophisticated, New York based communications consulting company that counsels large multinationals, high profile CEO's and governments. In their latest Trend/Forecasting Report they discuss, with sobering clarity, the current economic times and offer the following "Implications (and advice) for Business":

• Get back to basics. Old values like quality, customer satisfaction, worker morale, and loyalty to reliable suppliers might pay off more than the newest management fads or "thinking outside the box".
• Avoid debt and proceed with caution. Maintain a strong balance sheet. With asset values still in flux, assume that credit needed to take advantage of the many investment opportunities out there will be both more expensive and harder to come by.
• Keep costs under tight control. With revenues likely to be flat or even negative, profits will come increasingly from cost-cutting.
• Have a doomsday plan. Recall the absolute worst period in the history of your business; add 25% more pain, and plan your moves accordingly. Being prepared for the worst is not just for the Boy Scouts.
• Focus on energy savings. With energy prices continuing to rise dramatically, efforts at energy conservation will pay off. Going "green" will also be good for business.

As the present recession lengthens, your customers will have less money to spend which will most likely result in declining sales. Your key to survival will be not to run out of cash. "Cash flow control" is a simple method to project what your cash balances will be over future periods of time. Here is a survival plan for you to consider:

1. Using a spread sheet of income and expenses, project your cash balances for each of the next six months, using sales estimates that are lower than your present level. You could make two projections, one for sales at 80% of present level and one for 60%.
2. If future months show any negative cash balances, start now to begin reducing whatever expenses are necessary to maintain positive cash balances. Since payroll is a major expense, you must be disciplined to make the required reductions, keeping you're best employees and trimming the poor performers. In addition to reducing purchases and expenses, look into other ways of generating cash by negotiating agreements to stretch out accounts payables and loans. Or, look into help from family or friends or the use of personal credit cards. Don't wait until your cash flow is negative, when it will be too late.
3. Don't cut the value or quality of your products or services. Make them even better.
4. Look for opportunities in adversity. The best bargains and business acquisitions become available during recessions.
5. Remember that business cycles have ups and downs. Provided your business has good long-term prospects and it's something you love to do, stick with it and ride out the present downturn.
6. To learn how to prepare your cash flow projection, go to our free resource at: http://www.myownbusiness.org/s7/index.html.

There are a number of reasons to consider starting a home based business during the present recession. Operating from a spare bedroom or garage, a business can be started and run with a minimum of investment and risk--and not interfere with your regular job! Here are some considerations:

• Rule number one: Don't quit your job! You can start without burning your bridges of job income and benefits.
• A home based business can provide a source of income to supplement your job or replace the job in case it disappears.
• Internet based e-commerce businesses work especially well for home based firms. You can get family members involved during hours you're on the regular job.
• You can start very small and specialize in a single product or service. The most humble business can be enormously satisfying.
• When all else fails (including your job) a family working together is the best survival unit.
• Discreetly check out local zoning and business license requirements.
• It's open to all walks of life and ages, from high school students to the growing population of retirees.
• Family members can exercise individual business capabilities.
• Once you have established a foothold and your business is flourishing, you can think about quitting your job and begin expanding from the already proven home based start.

Some "DON'TS" to keep in mind:

• Don't compete with your employer or conduct business on your employer's time. The home based business must lend itself to being compartmentalized well away from your job.
• Don't make mistakes. To learn how to avoid mistakes in all the important disciplines necessary to operate a business, go to the free MOBI course at www.myownbusiness.org
• Don't overlook the use of a check off list. See the free MOBI Start-Up Kit a http://www.myownbusiness.org/start_a_business_kit.html

We welcome your questions to be answered in this Newsletter feature! Here is our Q and A for this edition:

Question: Can you tell me more about the buy-sell agreement? How does it work? You mentioned about it being paid by insurance. Why do we need it?

Answer: A buy-sell agreement can provide for handling two major risks when a business is owned by partners: providing for what happens if there is a serious disagreement and/or what happens if one of the partners dies. To provide for the death of a partner, each partner takes out a life insurance policy so that there will be insurance proceeds for the surviving partner to acquire the ownership of the deceased partner's portion of the business. As the business grows, the life insurance coverage can be increased according to the worth of the business. An experienced business lawyer will be required to draw up the agreement.