The New Normal

Had a nice conversation with my old friend, Chris Horne, the other night.  I was talking to him about how now we're 3 years into the great recession, it's becoming obvious that nothing is likely to make things better any time, soon.

When this whole thing started, I thought it would last 5 years.  Now, it's looking like that was wild-eyed optimism.  If this thing lasts a decade or more, I wouldn't be surprised.  Maybe it'll last 20.  Maybe the rest of my life.  There are a lot of bad harbingers on the horizon and not a lot of good ones.

So, I think I'm just coming to the realization that this is the new normal.  There's still opportunity.  There's still money to be made.  You just need to react and realize that the old days aren't coming back.  There'll be prosperity in the future, but who knows how and why.  The things that worked before might not work tomorrow.

I feel pretty good because despite the difficulty of these past couple of years, I'm still hanging in there.  With Law School starting, I have a chance at something new.  I do agree with the folks who say that to survive in today's economy, you have to be able to change and adapt.  That's not something I've ever had a lot of trouble with.  Sticking with one thing for a long time?  Now, that's tough.

Even though I'm embarking on the practice of law, I still want to keep active in small business.  I don't trust Wall Street anymore.  I'll be looking for future business opportunities once I have the capital to act on them.  I'd like to build something I can hand down to my son. 

I think things are going to be hard for his generation.  Some fields will be wide open, but overall, I think they'll have less opportunity than my generation had.  I'd like to bring him up to think like an entrepreneur.  It has been a great quality of life choice for me and overall, it has been a step forward financially.  The more I can expand and diversify, the better it'll be financially.

So, this, I think, is the new normal.  Economic troubles for as far as the eye can see.  If you can keep your ship afloat, that's a victory.