This guest post is from Martin Povey, a business marketing coach located in Canada.

When you operate a B&B, a resort, a camp or other hospitality sector based business and a recession hits, or for whatever reason occupancy is down you sometimes have to think sideways to get things straight!

“Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists”. Edward de Bono

Think in terms of what your assets are and how you could “repurpose” how those assets could be used. Stop thinking about what you are and start thinking about what you could be.

By this I mean if you operate a B&B, can you keep the cash flowing by providing a venue for a local networking groups breakfast or lunch, or are you a great afternoon tea destination, a perfect spot for an intimate wedding? How about business think tanks, hosting yoga or reiki classes and, of course, don’t forget corporate stay business.

If your asset is a resort or camp can you handle family reunions, a vintage car show, become the ultimate yard sale destination. Do an online search for retreats, find out who’s hosting them, who’s attending and for what reason. Are you located in a birdwatchers paradise or ideal for stargazers? If you have the infrastructure, sell daily, weekly or seasonal passes to town and city folks just itching to “get away for a day”.

My point is to start thinking sideways. Only you know the attributes of your operation, what the physical infrastructure would allow and how best to repurpose them.

So become a “possibility thinker”. Take a moment and a piece of paper and make your list of what could be. It may just surprise you.

Martin Povey owns buildingyourbusiness.ca and is a business and marketing coach who helps entrepreneurs and small businesses that need focus direction and creative solutions to build their business and achieve their goals. He can be contacted at: martin@buildingyourbusiness.ca or 403-529-9259 or visit http://www.buildingyourbusiness.ca/

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Sacred cows take a long time to die. We get comfortable in the way we do things and lose sight of how they could be improved. Here’s an interesting story.

A woman was in the process of fixing her special holiday ham. She cleaned it and then took a huge knife, lopped off both ends of the ham and placed it in a pan. Her daughter, who was learning how to cook asked, “Now Mom, why did you do that?”

“Because that’s how your grandmother taught me,” was her answer. “Let’s ask her.” So they did. Her answer was the same. Her mother taught her that way. Being a lucky family, great grandma was still with them so they asked her.

Her answer? “I always cut off the ends of the ham so it would fit in the pan.”

Just think of all the pork they wasted over the years doing it great grandma’s way. Just because great grandma didn’t have a big enough pan.

Do you have any hams in your small business? Their probably costing you a bunch of money. At least once a year you should be reviewing your business processes to make sure they are being completed in the most efficient way for your business.

How about you? Are you doing things in your company just because you’ve always done them that way?

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