By Clayton Makepeace
Let’s say you own a business and you’re trying to decide what kinds of products you should be developing. Or you’re a copywriter trying to select the clients and projects most likely to make you a bundle over the next year or so.
Right off the bat, you know it isn’t going to be easy. Just take a look around…
- The U.S. economy has ground to a standstill and the stock market is stuck in quicksand.
- The credit markets have dried up, and even our largest banks are teetering on the brink of disaster.
- The equity in your home - most people’s #1 source of savings and wealth - is dwindling by the day. And despite the steady stream of pro-dollar B.S. flowing from the Fed, the value of your money is tanking too.
- The number of unemployed Americans is heading toward Depression-era levels, and personal and corporate bankruptcies are setting all-time record highs with each passing month.
- Gasoline, natural gas, and electricity prices are sky-high and roaring higher. And every trip to the grocery store costs you more than the last one did.
- Consumer confidence is cratering… prospects and customers are curtailing discretionary purchases and beginning to watch every penny as if it were their last… and retail sales at all but discount stores are plunging.
- Two major financial institutions - Merrill Lynch and the Royal Bank of Scotland - just issued frank, blatant, in-your-face warnings that the global economy and world stock markets WILL suffer a major meltdown in the next 90 days.
- And if all that isn’t enough cause for concern, we have not one but two economic ignoramuses running for president, pitching spending schemes that historically have proven to be recipes for financial catastrophe.
Sorry, Boobalah, but them’s the cards you’ve been dealt.
What’s that? Did I hear someone say "This article isn’t for me… I’m not in the U.S."?
Uh - sorry to break it to you, my foreign friend, but with America on the ropes… with Eurozone economies slowing, stock markets softening, and inflation rising… and with Asian nations fighting their own inflation demons and Pacific Rim stocks swooning as much as 60 percent so far this year… these ain’t exactly salad days for you either.
So - given the fact that we’re all marketers here - what do you do to make max money in miserable times? What kinds of products should businesses be launching and which kinds of assignments should copywriters pursue?
Right now, I see five big areas of opportunity for entrepreneurs, business owners, marketing folks, and copywriters…
Opportunity #1: Anything that helps consumers or businesses function better for less - products and services that…
- Improve gas mileage, reduce the number of miles we need to drive each week, shrink utility bills, ease the pain we’re feeling at the grocery store check-out counter, and, of course, minimize our taxes and insurance premiums.
- Reduce what we pay for education or to care for aging parents… minimize medical or legal bills… allow us to buy the best for the same or less than we’re paying now for second- or third-best.
- Help older people live better on a fixed income… guide them to higher-yielding investments… and help them get more out of Social Security and Medicare and make every dollar go farther.
- Help businesses reduce costs and also find new operating efficiencies that improve productivity and shore up their bottom lines.
Opportunity #2: Things that help consumers or businesses make more money - products and services that …
- Help people get a raise, augment income, or replace a lost job. That means work-at-home opportunities… entrepreneurial and home-based businesses… online business opportunities… investment courses, software, and other products designed to do well in a stagflationary environment.
- Provide the tools to survive and thrive in a troubled real estate market by knowing how to sell a home or limit the financial damage that comes with foreclosure… or by knowing how to profit as home foreclosures mount and home prices continue to plunge.
- Harness the profit potential of excess debt. Debt collection services, products to help consumers fend off debt collectors, credit counseling/debt reduction services, and bankruptcy help spring to mind.
- Help businesses sell more products for less - including anything that helps them increase sales revenues and reduce costs, thus increasing ROI, profits, and market share.
Opportunity #3: Little luxuries and guilty pleasures
Did you know that the entire global makeup industry was founded during The Great Depression?
It’s true! When money’s tight and jobs are hanging by a thread, inexpensive products that give us a sense of normalcy… help us connect emotionally with "the good old days"… boost our self-esteem or hope… give us pleasure or a few moments of respite from worry and want… tend to sell like hotcakes.
Opportunity #4: Products and services for the richest one-quarter of one percent
You won’t see Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, or Al Gore in a breadline anytime soon. High-net-worth folks have money to burn.
Even in tough times, being in the business of selling luxury products or services to the super-rich can be very, very profitable. They’ll still be spending good money on fashion, jewelry, antiques, art, travel, high-end estates, exotic cars, yachts, private jets, and more.
Opportunity #5: Products we all need, no matter what
No matter how bad the economy gets, we still fall in love, have sex, have babies. We still have to eat and drink… still have medical needs… and, of course, we all, eventually, croak. Products and services that help us do these things well and cheaply tend to be stagflation-proof.
What have I left out? Probably a ton of stuff!
So chime in. Let’s hear your ideas for growing rich no matter what happens next in the economy…
[Ed. Note: The truth is, no matter how bleak the economy looks, there are ALWAYS opportunities to make money. And if you start your own business in one of the areas Clayton Makepeace mentioned today, you can accelerate your journey to massive wealth. With help from ETR’s business-building experts, you can get the exact steps, shortcuts, and insider secrets to building your own business from the ground up.
Direct-marketing consultant and copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Check it out here and claim four free money-making e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that’ll skyrocket your response rates.]
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.
Clayton is a master.. He not only predicted this coming disaster in Jan 2008 but also how to take advantage of it (on his site). Great post!
Posted by: Vishal Nayak - B2B Copywriter | December 16, 2008 at 04:15 PM