Many small business owners are succumbing to fear due to the economy and worry whether they will succeed. Business owners are finding it more challenging to be optimistic and excited about the future of their businesses. However, two Sacramento area business owners are teaching that now is the time to be excited about doing business and they are teaching how business owners can be excited about doing business - despite hard economic times.

Jerry Kennedy, owner of Inside Out Business Solutions, and Joel D Canfield, author, award-winning speaker and co-founder of the Northern California Association of Entrepreneurs, conduct interactive business workshops where attendees learn why now is the time to grow your business and how you can succeed while others fear and fail. Their workshops are titled, "The Time is Now 11:59".

Many immediately think of impending doom when they hear the phrase 'the time is now 11:59'. When asked why they chose that title and what it means to them, Joel and Jerry explained that the source of the phrase is Rick Wilson, a very unconventional people-oriented dentist in Philadelphia. Joel explained that rather than feeling impending doom due to the economy, we should feel the enormous excitement similar to what we feel the minute before midnight on New Year's Eve - even if we have to intentionally cultivate that excitement because we don't feel it naturally. Joel said: "We understand some people are worried right now but we believe you can choose to be excited even if you are not already. That choice will make your business better starting right now."

Joel and Jerry don't just want to share their enthusiasm, of which they have plenty. They want to share why you should be enthusiastic and practical steps on how to have that enthusiasm in your business. Jerry says that at the minute before midnight you can be facing one of two directions. If you are looking backwards you are looking at all the things you could have done differently. If you choose to look forward, you see what you can do tomorrow to get the results you want. He stated: "That's what we are encouraging business owners to do - look forward and make decisions today about what you're going to do tomorrow that is going to get the results you want."

Why do Joel and Jerry feel now is the time to be excited about business when there's an economic downturn? "The economic downturn is what it is," said Jerry. "I love the quote that our suffering is caused by our resistance to what is. If we want to wallow in the misery of the crisis, we can choose to do that or we can choose to focus on how we are going to play a part in fixing it. By focusing on solutions we take our power back because right now for the most part we are giving our power to the media outlets and the doom and gloomers. All we have to do is make the decision to take our power back."

As Joel pointed out, psychologist and sociologists have conducted studies and found that when you have a positive frame of mind you think more clearly, see abstracts more readily, and are more open do different ways of thinking. Because of those things you become better at problem solving and creative thinking. Even if the situation doesn't warrant it, a positive frame of mind still is a better tool for small business persons. "We're not being Pollyannas, pretending nothing's wrong", says Joel. "We just don't believe that the situation has to decide our future."

"It all comes down acting as if," added Jerry. "You can act as if the situation you are in is real and stay in that reality or you can act as if the situation is what you want it to be." Jerry went on to discuss cognitive dissonance, which he explains is a condition of disagreement of what your conscious mind observes through your senses and what your subconscious mind believes to be the case. He says, "Your subconscious ALWAYS, make that bold, all caps, underlined, wins the disagreement." So act as if a belief in your subconscious mind is reality and is what you expect it to be because the subconscious wins the disagreement.

Dr. Richard Wiseman in The Luck Factor and Dr. Barry Schwartz in The Paradox of Choice both refer to counterfactual thinking. Joel says this is needed for creating cognitive dissonance as a tool for improving our mental and emotional state and just plain creating good luck.
So what is the main thing Jerry and Joel want each attendee to take away from their workshop? Simply stated Joel says, "That each attendee can choose to be happy about the future of their business." Jerry adds, "If you are in business, you are in sales: accept it, get over it, and move on. The caveat being do it well, do it properly and you will be a HERO."

Joel and Jerry's next workshop will be held on June 12, 2009 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at 9380 Elk Grove-Florin Road in Elk Grove, California. One of Jerry Kennedy's topics will explain how each business owner today can be a HERO by creating an atmosphere where it's comfortable for people to buy from you. One of Joel D Canfield's topics will discuss how you can make a great living doing what you love. To learn more about their workshops, visit their website at http://theTimeisNow1159.com.