I am writing this blog as the stock market is going crazy in a free fall and our Congress just insulted us all with its irresponsible behavior in playing the game of Chicken at our country’s expense. Notably, their last minute vote on raising the debt ceiling and revised “budget management” effort. Those last words seem like a oxymoron.

It’s bad enough that much of small business is still sitting on the sidelines given the Great Recession and the banking crisis. But now, current events are adding insult to injury. So, what do you do in business given this reality?

My reaction...Patience. Don’t give in to the frenzy. Sit tight and while you do take “stock” in you and your business. I’m a believer in adhering to building a business on the fundamentals. To calmly and objectively looking at your business. Make a checklist of the following:

1. Have a plan in place with short, medium and long term benchmarks.
2. Assess your plan to your current realities, assess your strengths to your weaknesses and see if the strengths can go to work at minimizing the weaknesses.
3. Pay attention to your cash flow and if and where you need to adjust its application.
4. How are you managing debt?
5. What on your checklist is negotiable. If you haven’t already, start talking to your vendors and your banker.
6. What can you do to bolster revenue...remember the four Ps in Marketing: Product, Place, Promotion and Price.
7. Don’t forget to honor your customers, create relationships, up sell, cross sell.

The stock market will always go up and down and our Congress will always be voted in and out. There are things in life we can’t control and then there are those we can. Listen to yourself and have the resolve to pay attention to the fundamentals, this you can control. So let the world go mad, knowing that you are armed to stand firm and steady and patiently--regardless of whether sanity ever returns.