I talk often in the Real Value Podcast about how to
recession proof your business, although I rarely use
the word “recession” since the things I teach, coach
on, and believe in are not necessarily things that
should only be done going into a recession. These
are things I believe every business owner should be
doing regardless of the economic climate and, if
followed, will have the happy result of also making
your business recession proof.
I teach a relatively long list of things in the Real Value
Coaching Academy that I believe appraisers should
and could be doing in their businesses to become
leaders in their markets. But the list would be much
too long to include for this article.So, I’ll focus on
the top three things I believe every appraiser should
thing that every person should be doing, not just
appraisers, is living as close to debt free as humanly
possible. I know it may not be possible to live
completely debt free since most people carry a
mortgage on their home and likely have some auto
loans, credit cards, and some other debts. If at all
you can as soon as humanly possible. Cash and
18 | APPRAISAL BUZZ FALL 2020
between
survival and
bankruptcy. We
know that close
to 50% of
Americans live
paycheck to
paycheck and
BUSINESS HOW TO
are one paycheck away from an economic disaster.
For many during the pandemic, that potential
disaster has become their reality. One of the best
ways to avoid having this become a reality for you
is to have a “survival account” for all of your monthly
survival needs. A proper survival account will have a
minimum of three months of all your living expenses
deposited and never touched except in an
emergency. Once you are able to build up to three
months of your living expenses, I would advise you
to build it up to six months of living expenses. For
most people and most situations, six months of
expenses set aside will be enough to help them
weather most economic storms. For business
owners, I recommend the same strategy for your
business. Have at a minimum three months’ worth
of business expenses set aside for survival in tough
times. An advanced goal is to build up to 12-18
months’ worth of expenses set aside in case of
emergency. The freedom that comes from knowing
and business expenses set aside is a freedom few
experience, not because it’s not possible, but
simply because they haven’t become disciplined in
this regard. The obvious connection between the
account(s) is that the lower your debts and monthly
living expenses, the smaller your survival account
The next piece of advice I give people and business
owners is that they must be doing a monthly
personal and business budget. Along with your P&L
owner should know down to the dollar where their
money is coming from, where it’s going, and what
and build wealth. What do I mean by every
dollar having a job? I mean that when you
statement for your business and personal
every one of your dollars to work
portion of our lives trading our life energy
and time for dollars. Those dollars then go
to pay for the things we believe will make
our lives better and allow us to survive. Since
most people simply do “bank balance”