Reporter's Notebook

BACK TO BUSINESS

While the politicos in Washington, D.C., haggle over what should be fixed and how much should be spent fixing it, we here in the real Washington continue to do our best to conduct our business, keep our communities going and get more than four hours of sleep a night.
We are doing this in an economic climate that is new to many and way too familiar to a few of our veteran business people. Owning, operating and managing a business in the current economy requires managers to rely on a very different set of skills than when things were going good.
Everyday I hear about managers who now spend far too much of their time managing employment numbers – i.e. who to lay off this week, who can take a furlough day, etc. – than figuring out whether they can make any money.

Managers of retail and service industries are spending their time managing their cash flow rather than the business itself. This “in the books” managing hinders productivity and the ability of our local businesses to pull themselves and the local economy up by the boot straps and get things moving again.

We all know the effect the “credit crisis” is having on business lending and spending. Some businesses have folded due to the changes in the fiscal environment. But many other businesses tell me that while they have trimmed expenses where they can, they are still in business and things have slowed and become steady – not printing money in the basement steady – but they are starting to see flat numbers rather than declining numbers.

The benefit of a flat economy is twofold. First, a steady, albeit slower, economy allows managers to spend their time managing their businesses again not their cash flow or workforce. And second, it brings some much needed confidence to the local market that indeed this, too, shall pass!

-Steve McDonagh can be reached at smcdonagh@vbjusa.com