You survived online auctions, increased (and sometimes downright amazing) customer demands, buyers ordering fewer parts and wanting them faster and cheaper, corporate downsizing, the ever-popular voicemail jail, a zillion e-mails when you log on and the destruction that occurs when a computer virus visits your company. Add to all that a shrinking 401K that makes you consider for the first time buying a lottery ticket or stuffing it all into your mattress. Then you get a call from your sales manager who tells you that one of your customers has a new one...they want to begin ordering your products on consignment!

You've gotten used to traveling coach, removing your shoes before the longest security line in America at New York's LaGuardia Airport, renting smaller cars, staying at cheaper hotels and putting off that new piece of equipment that was in the budget and in your dreams only last night.

Relax. Just as we are certain that the sun rises in the East, we can be certain the pendulum of economics will swing toward a return to good business and a Bull Market sometime soon.

So, what's a business executive to do in the meantime? Continue laying a firm foundation for the future.

Most of the people I keep in touch with in our industry are doing myriad things to keep the "print cylinders" of their organizations turning. They are looking closely at efficiencies and cost controls, questioning every dollar spent, (event-based spending being the first criteria that must be met on medium to large purchases), and they're approving only those expenses that will add a measurable difference to the bottom line.

They are using these slower times to bone up on training and cross-training, considering dramatic new ways of differentiating themselves from competitors, and taking time to think about a strategy that goes beyond the normal three years offered by most strategic plans. Many are holding the line on overtime, keeping the troops inspired and informed by continually presenting a clearer vision, making it a point each day to ask for input from staff and by investing in new technology. Everyone appears to be getting ready for tomorrow but keeping the lessons learned today very much in mind.

If you're reading this article, you're among the lucky ones as you still have a job. Consider this: if everything ran smoothly, why would they need you? And if they didn't need you, would your set of problems be better or worse?

There are two times when a company or an individual is well positioned to grow. The first is when the economy is in a recession, and the second is when the economy is growing. Since it's possible to grow under both circumstances, it seems to me that it's a mindset, which means you have a choice. As a business executive, that's not big news. It's nothing that you have not already thought of—or aren't already doing.

Converting has asked me to write a column regularly and bring you something that might be BIG news. Something you might NOT have already thought of. Tell me what's bugging you or what is not working for you within our industry, and I will do my best to bring the results of my research to you every few months.

I look forward to learning what it is you want to read about. Please e-mail me directly with your ideas and comments at: Suzanne.Zaccone@graphicsolutionsinc.com

Suzanne Zaccone is president of p-s label converter Graphic Solutions, Inc., located in Burr Ridge, IL. With 25 years of industry experience, she is a past president of TLMI (1998-2000) and is on the board of directors of the DiTrolio Flexographic Institute.