Get online as fast as you can,

The internet is far and away the most efficient way of advertising and selling provided everything is done right.  Where else will you get a salesman that costs $5000 and works 24 hours 7 days a week.

Do it without debt,

If you can do something in your business without incurring debt, you should. You shouldn’t avoid debt like the plague though, just manage it closely and spend wisely. Remember debt is cheap at the moment – if you can get it. 

Quality is key,

If you find yourself with spare time focus on improving quality. Quality in products and processes is the best thing you can focus on during a recession.  It will make your product more competitive for buying dollars when customers choose to spend them.
During a recession people don’t stop spending but they slow down and are very much pickier about what they spend money on. Make your product a high quality product and given the choice customers will choose your product every time over a competing item of lower quality.

Focus,

Do one thing; focus on becoming the best in the market at this one thing. This sentiment is hard for some hardened business heads to swallow. Common strategy in a recession is to diversify your business to increase income streams. But you are starting a new business, diversification with limited resources will not do your startup any favours and may see you exiting your chosen market sooner than you think. Everything you do in your business should be aimed at delivering this one single goal.

What about investment,

Find high quality investors. Finding investors during the recession is very difficult, but not impossible. Investors will invest in well planned & profitable businesses. After all that is why they are there they want to make money and there is money to be made in a recession. It is a good idea to keep investment requests to low dollar figures as investors are after diversifying their portfolios, they want lots of little investments to minimise their risk. Be a little investment, you don’t need $20 million to start that online thingamajig when you can get it off the ground for $20 thousand.
Make sure that your investor is willing to put in more than money. Ideas, time and guidance are a big plus. Also invest in your own business, reinvest profits into your business. you may find this hard taking a minimal wage but it will all pay off in the long run.

OK now what?

Let’s face it, this is not going to be the easiest thing you have ever done. So you need hunker down and work efficiently and effectively for the next two years turning a meagre profit. Why should you do this and what’s the point? The point is that when the recession ends and resources become freely available to businesses again, the lean, mean business model that you set up in your new startup during the recession will be all powerful. Profits will increase without corresponding increases in business expenses & competitors will find it difficult to compete in your business environment. you will grow and do well in the future.
And one thing to remember is that you will be in good company, General Electric, Disney, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard (HP) were all startup companies during recessions.