Why Fear Makes Economic Slowdown Worse

One of my favorite (and most memorable) articles that has been featured in MyBusiness since I've been working for the magazine is a piece by Harvey King on the FEARS virus. Harvey wrote it for us around the same time the SARS virus was a threat. Even though the piece is more than five years old and the word "SARS" hasn't been uttered in at least three of those years, I think the article is definitely worth revisiting. And I think Tim Berry, a blogger over at Entrepreneur.com, would agree.

Last week he posted about the economy and small business—and how bad it really is. And no, it's not as bad as you probably think. He says, "When things are up, they seem more up than what they really are; and when things are down, they seem worse. Reality is somewhere in between."

In other words, don't freak out. That'll only make things worse. Instead, use that energy to recession-proof your business.