Don't get me wrong, it is depressing looking at your pension account and savings values go way down due to the severe stock market decline, but we just need to keep doing what we do best -- managing our business. Just because the domestic auto manufacturers don't have a clue doesn't mean we should roll over and play dead.

There are opportunities now, and not all businesses are performing poorly. If you are in a competitive industry and have been around awhile, you have probably seen this scenario before. Your competition gets cut in half since they were hanging on by a thread to begin with and they cannot make it through this current tough environment. So at the end of the tunnel, you are going to see an increased customer base and greater revenue. People are out of work, but that leaves a larger labor market to choose from. Prices are cheaper -- yes, cheaper. Vendors are competing for a smaller amount of business. Going back to Economics 101, supply and demand states that when demand is down, prices go down.

You may have to cut your overhead. The Poland Spring water and the expensive new laptop might have to be put on hold for a while. Work on areas that make your business more efficient. It's a good time to actually visit or at least telephone some of your customers and tell them how much you appreciate their business. Find out if there is anything else you can do for them. Call your landlord and ask if you can extend your lease on more favorable terms. Or maybe it is time to buy a piece of business property.

The stock market isn't as important as our daily news broadcasts make it out to be. More than half of all workers have an insignificant amount of money invested in the market. We will get through this.