Oil spill prompts move of AF survival course
The Air Force is moving its water-survival courses from the Florida panhandle to eastern Washington because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Most people have heard of the "rule of 3" in survival.

As people (Human Beings), we cannot survive after:

3 hours of exposure (extreme heat or cold),

3 days without water, and

3 weeks without food.

A similar rule of 3 can apply to your business survival.

Your business cannot survive:

3 hours without marketing: Every 3 hours you should be doing something to market your business.

We as consumers have

1) very short attention spans and

2) due to the inordinate amount of marketing and advertising we receive throughout the day, usually cannot go more than 3 hours in remembering or recalling a specific marketing message. Just try to recall the product brand of a television commercial you saw once the program is over.

The goal of marketing is two folds: First to inform current and potential customers about your business and its products and services and second, to be front of mind when those consumers decide that they have an unmet need that can be satisfied by your business's offerings.

Thus, to keep in the forefront of consumer's minds, businesses must constantly be focused on marketing - keeping the right message in front of the right people (channel).

3 days without employee retention: Every 3 days, you or your business, should be doing something to retain your key employees. This does not mean that every 3 days you have to doing something that helps retain all your key employees at the same time, but that you or your business should be working on ways to let your key employees know how important they are to your business and follow through with one or more of them every 3 days.

This could be as simple as giving an employee public recognition for their efforts (the proverbial slap on the back) or as complex as providing an outstanding worker with an extravagant perk such as a paid vacation or pay raise - to name just a few.

3 weeks without strategic development: Every 3 weeks, at the least, your business should be re-evaluating its strategic direction. This could be as simple as dusting off the old business plan and comparing current results with projection from that plan. Or, even simply just taking a few moments, stepping back, and looking at the big picture for your business - contemplating the results you are seeking and the path you are on to achieve those results. Questions that should be asked and answered here are, at a minimum:

- Are we using our current asset mix to generate the greatest return for the business?

- Are we proceeding in the right direction with our business in our industry (i.e. are things in the industry changing while we are not)?

- Are we doing all we can to satisfy our customers - with our current products, our services or can we add additional products and services to better meet consumer demand?

- And lastly, are we competitive based on what our competition is doing or can we do something to steal the power from our competition?

The bottom line is that no matter what the market or economy is doing, if you focus on and set aside time for your business you will not only survive but grow as well.

Just simply keep the "rule of 3" for business survival in mind and always look to the future.

Joseph Lizio holds a MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship, is the founder of Business Money Today, has a strong commercial lending background and is regarded as an expert in business and finance.