Second, I learned my lesson back in 1991. You can only cut so far. Eventually, there's nothing left to cut, and you're still not out of the woods. I had a friend who lost his job. He was freaked out about money, so he insisted on keeping all his lights in his house off except one. His house was dark and dismal. He was so depressed, he couldn't motivate himself to go out on job interviews.

Of course, he was depressed. He spent his entire time home alone in a house with one 25-watt bulb. When I visited him, I made him clean up and turn on some lights. Amazingly, the depression lifted, and he felt up to going on job interviews.

Cutting doesn't really work. It screws with morale, making your own employees second-guess your motives. It also reduces the critical resources you need to move your business forward. So, if you have any influence on spending, I recommend you use the money you have as fuel to power out of whatever situation you're in.

That's what I'm doing. I've just increased my staff by 50%. Of course, ZATZ is profitable and has a real business strategy. If you're not profitable, or if you don't have a solid strategy, you now know what you should be doing first.

Good luck! See you next month!

Chris Brown is the webmaster for technical support on the PalmPilot web site at http://www.palmpilot.com.