Recessions are just about the worst thing that can happen to a whiner, but for closers recessions are business as usual. In fact, for closers times like these can be the best of times.

This especially true in small businesses and proprietorships, where turning on a dime is an everyday occurrence. And it's why small businesses, entrepreneurs, lead the way out of times like these.

You see, closers know that selling is a two sided affair. Closers have a knack for sniffing out the deal. but here's the catch: The deal they sniff out today may not be a perfect fit for buyer and seller.

Closers understand that potential sales exist all along the continuum that exists between what's for sale and what buyers are looking for. Sure, when a buyer wants exactly what a seller has for sale the deal is done. But closers know those deals are easy to make. Anyone can close those deals. In fact all that's required is an introduction, and there is little value in providing an introduction.

It happens every day to someone, actually to a whole bunch of someones. But it might only happen once in any one particular individual's lifetime. Today is one of those days for a very good friend of mine.

My friend happens to run a small chain of automobile repair shops. For years and years one of his chief complaints has been the impossibility of competing with the auto dealers for repair work. Despite investing heavily in all the latest computer diagnostic technology and hiring the best mechanics trained by the auto makers themselves, customers have been hard to get. The perception is that his service can't be as good as that which the dealers offer.

Well today his service is not only as good (better, in all probability) as that which the dealers offer, it's also available. As the list of who stays and who goes among auto dealerships becomes known it will become clear that many customers have fewer choices for where to have their cars serviced. As they search for and eventually find the highest quality and most reputable service providers my friend's business will prosper.

I told him this is his once in a lifetime opportunity.

Over the past week I've had a number of conversations with friends and clients about business where they work and live. Call it a random sample. The only non-random aspect about this little informal survey is that they all know me. None of them know each other, so unless I'm the common thread that somehow guides the way economic conditions affect their businesses...

You get the idea.

Here are my findings:

Did you see this NYT article?

The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to impose significant new regulations to open the cable television market to independent programmers and rival video services after determining that cable companies have become too dominant in the industry, senior commission officials said.

Think it will ever happen? I doubt it. At least not in the near term.

Today's New York Times has an article on how advertisers are paying car and SUV owners hundreds of dollars a month to wrap their vehicles in advertising banners. Truly vehicle advertising is an idea whose time has come.

The more I think about it the more I like it. It's not that I like the vehicle advertising idea for my own self. Rather I appreciate the economics and the basic business dynamic at work here. Let's examine the idea of advertising on cars and SUVs from the points of view of the market participants.

The ad buyer