CabinetMaker+FDM - December 2011

FIRST CUT

Powerful lessons from no power

Thanks to Hurricane Irene in August and a freak Northeast snowstorm in October, I am now the veteran of surviving two extended power outages. When you have to do without the electrical grid and internet services for days on end, it certainly gives you a new perspective on how really dependent we all are on these services. Actually, dependent is way too mild of a word to describe it.

Think about your life and your business. What can you do without electricity? How dependent are you on the power grid and the internet? What contingency plan do you have in place in the event of an extended outage?

like a solid power grid to support you. But our increasing dependence and growing demands on the power grid aregrowing far fastern than the abilities of the power companies to provide these services.

Increasing dependence

Now many of you are probably thinking that power outages are just minor temporary inconveniences that happen rarely and for only a few hours. Your business is more than likely in a well-developed commercial area with what seems

No matter rural or urban

I’ve lived in very rural areas, com-
pletely urbanized big city settings, and for
most of the last two decades in the well-
developed and fairly densely populated
land of suburban Connecticut. In all of
those locations I’ve experienced plenty
of power outages. I work in a basement
office and always carry a small flashlight
just in case. But in all the places I’ve lived
or worked over the last 50-plus years I’ve
and for most it took the greater part of a
week to get them back on line.

In the investment world, experts caution investors to remain focused on their own goals. Don’t get elated after a good week, they say, or crushed when the market has a bad week. Don’t dwell on negative news.

Here are some specific comments:

❯❯ “Turn off the news and ignore the economic naysayers.” ❯❯ “Hearing a lot of bad economic news? Ignore it.”

❯❯ “Individual investors would generally be advised to ignore short-term ups and downs and focus on long-term strategy.”

❯❯ “Investors advised to ignore currency volatility.” Tips from Wall Street for Main Street

+ Best of the blogs:

Want more industry commentary? Check out this blog: www.sawdustsoup.com/profiles/blogs/additional-pearls-of-wisdom-from-bits-amp-pieces

by Karl D. Forth karl.forth@ccimedia.net

❯❯ “Wall Street gyrations got you down? Ignore them.”

❯❯ Or how about, “Control the con-
trollable, ignore the rest.”
In our businesses, whether
cabinet shops, millwork producers,
furniture manufacturers or media
companies, it’s easy to focus on
the negative. And there are always
negatives in the news. Part of it is
the nature of the news cycle. Bad things that happen, or
may happen, are always news. Good things may not even be
mentioned.