Where Has All The Money Gone?

Back in October 2008, I remember listening in to a call with guest speaker Robert Kiyosaki, who as early as 2002 had seen the writing on the economic wall.

He warned of a global economic downturn so substantial – a new Global Depression, that traditional economies would not recover for many years to come.

Just as in an earthquake, where there are many aftershocks, so it is with the economic equivalent. So where has all the money gone?

Andew Cass strongly indicates that there is an unprecendented economic shift away from traditional ways of doing business: the online market place is continuing to grow at an unprecendented rate.

Is this then a contradiction: are the economies of the world suffering in an unprecended way, not seen since the 1930’s?

Or is there another story to tell?

There is an idea bouncing around the internet that:

More millionaires were created in the 1930’s Depression than at any other time in history.

Now I’m the first to admit that I haven’t check this statement, but probing a bit deeper might help explain how this could be the case.

The last global economic depression didn’t result in there being less money, but it did result in there being less money available.

That’s one view, in any case. What if it were true?

If it is true, then perhaps it might explain why more millionaires were created like never before.

Those who espouse the "Free-market" philosophy of economics would point perhaps to the idea that in tough economic times, only the fittest survive. Others might explain it slightly different language: only those businesses which continued to deliver real value to their clients survived and flourished.

The rest went to the wall, as they were either not good enough, or, more likely they were not flexible enough to adapt in the face of the massive change being thrust upon them.

Doesn’t this sound all so depressing, as we think of the unforseen knock-on effects of the last global depression?

In my opinion, it’s only depressing if we choose to see the game in the same old way. If we choose to re-align ourselves with the demands of the current reality, we will find solutions.

I’m not saying that there is a magic economic pill that can be swallowed to make things better, but I am saying that challenging problems require creative solutions.

It doesn’t take an economic expert (and I’m not one) to see this.

If that’s true, then, why is it that so many organizations don’t adapt in the face of adversity??

Why do they carry on as if it’s business as usual?

Here’s my ‘gut’ answer (and no evidence here – sorry!):

We don’t change because there is comfort in our present habits and routines and reliance on past successes to lull us into a disastrous false sense of security, summed up by beliefs such as:

"this is the way it has always been"

or, another powerful maxim that hacks and mortally wounds creativity like a unleashed samurai sword:

"if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it".

These, and many other well-meaning beliefs blind us to the solutions to the possible dangers that lie ahead.

Think about this for a moment: when was the last time you asked yourself the questions:

"Is what I am doing the best thing I could do?"

or:

"Is this solution the only realistic way to overcome the problem?"

What if Andrew Cass is correct in believing that there is no recession on the world wide web? What if there really are ways to survive this current economic chaos?

One way we can gain some clues as to possible solutions is to study what others are doing.

Here’s a name that you might have heard of:

AMAZON

And here’s another:

GOOGLE

You get my point, I hope.

I’m not trying to say things are rosey in the online garden. They’re patrolled by scorpions and black-widow spiders just like anywhere else.

But what I am saying is this: if you are in business (whether it’s as a home-based sole trader, or traditional offline brick and mortar business) and you don’t equip yourself with the latest online marketing training that works now, you will get left behind by someone else who does adapt, who is willing to change.

If that sounds unsettling, then maybe you need to re-evaluate how and what your business is doing.

It only takes an innovative entrepreneur to come along with a new way of doing things to wipe the floor clean before his or her competitors have had time to draw a sharp intake of breath.

I believe Andrew Cass is right: there is no recession on the worldwide web. But only for those who know how to use it.

Dez.