THE COMING STORM.

[Not your average framer]

After the U.K.'s general election and regardless of whichever party gets in power, an enormous hole in the U.K.'s finances of about 1.3 trillion pounds will need to be filled. The next govenment is gonna be facing serious problems, with limited opportunities to make savings to find the money.

A lot of this money will have to come from increased taxes and reductions in public spending. This could make the recesion of the 1930's look like a picnic compared to the coming troubles. Our businesses could be under a lot more pressure than many of us can comprehend.

Comments?

[Perfection]

I guess most of us just plough through each month trying to make sure enough work is coming in to keep us afloat. And right now, it is. I do love this job and we set up this business in the depth of the worst recession for a zillion years. But I have a feeling you could be smelling the coffee - look at what's happened to Greece - their national debt is only 1.5% more of their GDP than ours. One thing's for sure - regardless of who ends up running the country, we can't keep giving more than we're getting. Thank goodness for very smart accountants!

I'm not a pessimist, I'm a lifetime salesman. If we go down, we'll go down bl**dy fighting!!

P

[Not your average framer]

look at what's happened to Greece - their national debt is only 1.5% more of their GDP than ours.

Yes, but they are handcuffed to all those other economies in the euro-zone and as such are not masters of their own destiny. They need higher interest rates to attract some inward investment, but in the euro-zone every country has to do everything the same way as all the other countries. Basically, they can't win!

[Not your average framer]

I guess most of us just plough through each month trying to make sure enough work is coming in to keep us afloat. And right now, it is.

I think we all need to be looking at how we do business and change to suit the environment we expect to find ourselves in.

I've just switched my mountboard supplier for general run-of-the mill jobs from Bainbridge to Aqadia and saved about 50 pence per sheet. Also by limiting my stock range to those boards which meet conservation standards, I will be offering conservation mountboard as the minimum standard for ALL jobs.

As the pound has dropped in value the relative prices of different sources of supply have changed considerably. Every penny counts in a bad recesion!

[Dermot]

Yep it's getting serious for everyone.....not just the Euro zone ....

Britain is one of 11 countries with a prized 'triple A' rating, along with Australia, Denmark, Germany, France, the United States and Luxembourg. But it is the only one of the elite to have been put on "negative watch", a warning that it might face a future downgrade.

Source... http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... isis-fears

[Tim]

OK - nailing my current colours to the mast here....

With a bit of luck, we'll get a hung parliament, and they'll be too involved with the infighting and backbiting trying to sort out who's going to run the country that businesses will just be left to get on with it without interference. After a couple of years the government will realise that's the best way to do things, and scale back the size of the civil service. How much of the 1.3 Trillion could be saved over the next 10 years of we just cancelled all the quangos, and reduced the size of parliament to say, 250 members in the Commons, and 100 in the Lords? I for one wouldn't mind reducing the tax I had to pay if one hundred thousand civil servants suddenly went from earning 50K per year to claiming benefit.

It's only necessary to tax the populace into poverty if you want to keep the electoral system we have now.

Use your vote next week to change that.

's ok - I'll get me coat.....

[kev@frames]

On the home front in the UK I reckon its odds-on that the next government of the Uk will end up being one of the most unpopular in living memory, and whichever party it is will be destroyed for a generation because of the spending cuts they will be forced to make.
Public sector cuts will be big, increases in taxation (or charges pretending not to be taxes, particularly those bouyed up by "greenwash") will rise and rise. VAT will probably go up early in the new government.
Just all guessing, really.
Energy prices will soar until or unless nuclear power is deployed pretty sharpish.
There will probably be a lot of trade union playing up, strikes and disruption on and off.
In due course it will self-right, as these storms have always done in the past, and we'll have a brief "80s-like" loadsamoney period, and our houses will continue to double in value every ten years or so.

or..... scotland could finally gain independence, Saw us off at the trossachs or wherever the border is, bobbing about in the small bit of oil that they still have left, and let england and wales float off to tropical waters. After some years of tossing overboard the unwanted (chavs, jeremy kyle and his guests, the unemployed, anyone over 60, anyoner under 30, anyopne who aspires to have fifteen different recycling bins or work for the council as an "officer", bailiffs, telesales people etc) we'd reach landfall on a forgotten paradise.
And then some idiot would ruin it all again because we forgot to throw the politicians overboard.
Deja Vu.

[silvercleave]

HUNG PARLIAMENT? ...............................................
............................................
I'LL SUPPLY THE ROPE......
.............
They all have their snouts in the same trough..............goin' to be a rough ride whoever comes in 1st

[mikeysaling]

need to have a community project to find 650 chairs!!

[Perfection]

"Ahh whale" said the sole

As my late father used to say.

One thing I guarantee - those of us who are survivors will survive

[A Few More Words]

OK - But when the going gets tough - the Tough must get going !!!

2 personal relevant observations this week

1. I paid a visit to a business I had considered a leading Picture Framing Business - they,ve been in business for over 20 years and they say business is SH*** - In discussion, I learned that they do NO Marketing but simply rely on non solicited repeat business - Any wonder then that business is SH*** ?

2. This week, we've had a couple of very good things happen in our business ;

a) We had two people in a customer's home for a day hanging some frames, that had remained unhanged for many months. We were happy cause we could afford the day from the workshop - got paid for time etc. Customer was happy cause she gave them 8 more pictures for reframing so we were even happier !

b) An existing customer (who we previously thought to be very price conscious) asked us to help out as she was redecorating a couple of rooms - one of us visited her home to have a look and advise - came back with 6 frames for reframing .

Remember - Whether we think we'll be a sucesess or not - we'll be right !

[Not your average framer]

We ALL have a window of opportunity to do some serious thinking and take any actions we deem appropiate before whatever is going to happen to our economic environment immediately after the election.

Some possible thoughts,(others may have more to add):

If possible take actions to reduce or limit liabilities and overheads.

Avoiding unneccessary expenditures.

Maintenance check on all your equipment, while you still can afford to fix things. Problems encountered later, may cost money at a bad time!

Reduce slow moving or dead stock - Have a sale or some special offers, while the customers still are willing to go for a bargain. Price dead stock to sell.

Dead stocks of larger mouldings can often make nice mirrors, using plain 4mm mirror glass, price them for a fast sale.

Review everything you do and how you do it. Be prepared to think out of the box!

Think about how you are going to win sales from customers with tightening budgets. Pick some budget priced mouldings to show them.

Look at how to maintain your profits, while offering the right deal to stop cash strapped customers from taking their business elsewhere.

Keep a very close eye upon all of you costs and overheads. Be ready to adjust your own charges, if required to remain viable.

It's time to examine and if neccessary change your outlook and mind set! Life used to be a whole lot easier, but not for much longer. GET READY NOW!

[kev@frames]

nice one Mark. you've just highlighted what everyone ought to be doing all the time in business -storm or not!
Funny how some of us let things slip a bit and only put proper management effort in when circumstances call for it. (first one to hold me hand up as guilty).

you mean: run your business like you are the manager, and your job depends on it, not like you are just the owner

[Not your average framer]

Hi Kev,

Like you, I think I can hold my hand up for that one and I expect that goes for most of us.

I've just been getting my accounts together for the year up to March 2010 and I'm planning on agressively sharpening up my act.

I don't think many of us can afford to just wait and see. Whatever trouble may be around the corner, won't be long coming.

It's time to get ready and no time to hang about!

[Bill Henry]

The news is a bit confusing over here.

It is reported that the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats may try to form a coalition.

I assume that both are on the left of the political spectrum. What are the differences between the parties?

[Dermot]

Not a lot...........the main thing would be differean faces...........

[Tim]

The news is a bit confusing over here.

It is reported that the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats may try to form a coalition.

I assume that both are on the left of the political spectrum. What are the differences between the parties?

Conservatives (Tory party)- Similar to your Republican (GOP) Party (er - huge assumption there by me that you're in the States). Owned and manipulated by the military/industrial complex. Support tax cuts for the rich, have never shown any compassion for the needy.

Liberal Democrats - probably the closest we have to your Democratic Party. Over here though, their members are fiercely independent, so the chances of them ever all agreeing on a set manifesto are limited. Generally supportive of what they believe to be the 'greater good' though, whatever that means.

Labour party. An anachronism. Grew up out of the trade union movement in order to support the working classes. Threw all ideals aside in 1997 though, in order to gain power. became 'Tory light' as 'New Labour', and have paid for it mightily in this election.

The views expressed above are my own, and if SWMBO wasn't away for the weekend I probably wouldn't get the opportunity to post 'em