Are You Ready to Quit the Recession?

Well, it’s official: Ben Bernanke and, more impressively, Warren Buffet have declared that the recession is officially over (of course, my friend Raj called it a couple of days ago, but we won’t quibble over details here…).  Don’t get out the party hats and champagne just yet, though; Buffet and Bernanke are both predicting a slow recovery for the economy due to the continued ‘lack of confidence’ on the part of consumers.  That’s you and me, people.  We are the consumers’ whose lack of confidence is going to drag this thing out, if that’s the choice we make. 

Is that the choice you want to make?  I certainly don’t.  I, for one, am tired of being in a recession.  I’m ready for a change.  And I think I speak for a lot of people when I say “Enough already!”  I’m willing to bet that you feel the same way, don’t you?  So then, what can we do to change (as in ‘elevate’) consumer confidence, including our own?

Well, start by asking yourself what it would take for you to be more confident and resume things like going out to eat and buying new clothes on a regular basis?  What level of income would you need to feel comfortable buying a new car?  How about a home?  It’s not likely that there will be a better time in the next decade or two to buy things on the cheap. In fact, it would seem that the entire world and everything in it is on sale, so what better time to buy?  Of course, I’m not encouraging you to be reckless or to spend money you don’t have…just consider what you could do right now if you did have the money.  And pick a number that would make you feel confident enough to do it.

Next step?  Figure out how to get to that level of income so that you can once again join the ranks of the confident consumer.  How?  Well, the first thing you have to do is believe you can (and you certainly can); then, you have to believe that you must!  In other words, you have to have a compelling WHY, a reason that will drive you to do whatever it takes to correct your own financial situation and get your life and business back on track. 

To help you (and others like you) to find your WHY, I’m making a concerted effort to get a special audio program into the hands of as many people as possible over the next few weeks.   It’s the first section of my audio program ”Motivation 101: Five Steps to Activate Your Potential In Any Economy”.  It’s called ”Step 1: Ask Why?”, and is available for download absolutely free at my website.  And by free, I mean 100% free, no strings attached.  I’m not even going to ask for your email address.  Why?

Well, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m an evangelist for change, a prophet for the end of the recession.  As such, I’m interested in getting this information to as wide an audience as possible.  I figured the best way to do that is to start by giving it away.  Now, I know that doesn’t make the best business sense, but that’s the great thing about being an evangelist: ‘good business sense’ is secondary to the message.

Now of course, I’d also like to sell some of these programs eventually, so there’s a way for you to buy the whole program if you like; consider your purchase as a declaration of your belief that the recession is over, if that helps.  Frankly, though, I’m far more interested in you downloading just this one section, listening to it, doing the accompanying exercises, applying the suggestions and seeing the results.  Then, I hope you go tell some friends.  OK…lots of friends.  And co-workers.  And neighbors, family members and associates. 

I’d really love to give away 10,000 copies of this 10-minute audio by the end of the month.  I’d really, really like to see this message go viral, not to serve some crazy ego-based need for attention (although it’ll certainly do that), but to see the effect that it will have on the lives of the people it touches.  I can’t do it without help, though, so I’m asking you: if you enjoy the program, if the message resonates with you and you see the benefit of applying the information, please pass it along.

Thanks again for reading, and please share this post with anyone you think might be interested in getting on the “Let’s Quit the Recession” bus.  Together, we can end this mess quickly.