Just Stand Tall and Reach Higher; There's Still Plenty of Fruit in the Tree

The New Year is now upon us and with it comes many uncertainties. However, when you give it some thought, the future always holds uncertainties and unknowns. The only thing different this time around is that our hopes are flickering and turning into fears. If we let these fears get the best of us, we will become blind to the fact that we really have a lot of positives going for us.

While the economy has certainly taken a nosedive, it hasn't crashed. Let's keep in mind that we have just experienced the biggest economic boom in recent times. Regardless of who or what caused this nosedive, we need to realize that what goes up must eventually come down. In other words, business cycles expand and contract. As George Ludwig, president and CEO of GLU Consulting, and a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology, sees it, "All this means is that the low-hanging fruit of two years ago is now a little higher in the tree. There is still business in the marketplace—just not as much as a couple of years ago. We are all going to have to work smarter and harder than ever before, but sales opportunities are still available."

Another thing in our favor is the overall shape of the aerospace industry. It has never looked stronger, and long range forecasts are positive over the next several years. The backlog for both Boeing and Airbus are at a record high, and they project being at full-capacity through 2012. The same scenario holds true for the business jet and helicopter markets.

I'm not an economist and I don't have a crystal ball, so I'm going out on a limb to make this prediction. I believe the worst is now behind us and by the beginning of the second quarter of 2009 we will be coming out of this current recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has long been the arbiter of when the economy is either in recession or expanding. This elite group of economists officially declared back in December, 2008, that we are currently in the midst of a recession that began 12 months earlier. This is really good news and shouldn't be ignored. According to the NBER, the last two recessions, which took place between 1990 and 1991 and in 2001, lasted eight months each. Only two of the 10 previous post-Depression recessionary periods lasted as long as a year. So, if history repeats itself, as it so often does, I believe my prediction will be accurate.

Efforts to curb this recession over the past several months, from interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, to the $700 billion bailout program approved by Congress, may help, but they're certainly not a total remedy for an ill economy. The ultimate cure for a recession is to let it run its course.

In the mean time, let's stand tall and reach for the fruit higher in the tree.