Well I read it again in USA Today: contradicting views of whether the economy is making a comeback or will stay depressed a bit longer. Who knows? Hopefully we all see the many positive things that have come out of this down economy. Here are a few.

From a Business Perspective

• Some of my clients have made difficult choices and let go the 10% of the people who were the lowest producers in the organization. While not pleasant, the recession forced long-overdue action.

• Belt-tightening companies may be more amenable to telework, allowing more people to work at home. Two benefits to the company: it saves money on real estate, utilities, and other overhead, and it encourages their best employees to stay during these tough times.

• It's a great time to start a business. If you know you are going to start a business, start it now. Many people will not heed this advice, but if you do you will have a head start on your competition, and when the recession ends, your business will be that much farther along. Even though venture capital firms are holding cash now, they will be ready to invest as the recession winds down and you will be ready with your proposal.

From a Personal Perspective

• Service is better. Have you noticed that store clerks and restaurant servers seem to be more attentive, helpful, and polite the past couple of months?

• Great time to find bargains. With people second guessing purchases, stores have great prices on many things. And if you shop on the Internet, many offer free shipping.

• It's a great time to make a large purchase as well, such as buying stock or real estate. As for stocks, some are so low the only direction is up. I am sure I don't need to tell you about the bargains in real estate.

• It is teaching Americans to save again. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (here's a visual) shows that while American savers were averaging 1% or less from late 2004 to early 2008, the average personal savings rate has more than quadrupled to over 4% in 2009. This is the highest in 10 years.

• It's become chic to repurpose-you mean like saving the bows off birthday presents like my Grandmother always did?

I save and I waste. I like a bit of all of it. That's why I decided not to participate in this recession. I certainly don't mean to sound frivolous about this serious situation, however, the mantra in the farming family in which I grew up was, "Ya gotta spend money to make money." Not that there was ever any extra money to fritter away. There wasn't. It did mean, however, that you need to continue to invest; you cannot hoard and make money at the same time. Hopefully you have found upside opportunities in this down economy, too.

Please tell us about your "upside" to this down economy...

Thanks!

Thank you to Jenn and Stephen for your ideas. I used both of your ideas for the online session this week and it was a success. In addition, the small groups listed ideas that we compiled and emailed to them after the session. I found that once I wrapped my head around the idea that we still need to practice good adult learning principles, whether the group is in a classroom or online, I was free to think of new ways to implement good techniques.