While no one has a crystal ball, and predictions can always be wrong, it’s very likely that the next 10 years or so will be stagnant. We’ll likely see switchbacks from down economies to flat economies.

The above video covers some techniques on how businesses can do well in tough times. I agree with all of his points, but here’s the funny thing: every time you see any business techniques on how to do well in a down economy, they are always things you should be doing anyway.

Focusing on your ideal target market? Yeah, but you should be doing that anyway.

Dumping crappy employees? Yeah, but you should be doing that anyway.

Focus on cash flow? Yeah, but you should be doing that anyway.

Etc.

It’s not that there are one set of techniques for bad economies and another set for good economies. It’s that during good economies, business owners get lazy and do a bunch of stupid stuff. The great economy provides enough of a buffer for mediocre business owners or managers to survive. When a bad economy comes around, these guys are suddenly forced to start doing the very things they should have been doing all along.

Many of them don’t survive. That’s actually why I like sudden and sharp economic downturns. It acts as a cleaning mechanism, wiping out all the poor and mediocre businesses so the good ones can stay in business and service customers correctly. The dot.com recession of the early 2000s in particular helped me a great deal by destroying a lot of my competitors while I stayed in business, because I was already doing all the correct things.

That’s the ultimate advice: always do the right things in business regardless of the state of the economy.