6.21am on Thursday morning and I think that I"ve become a compulsive blogger.  I didn't get out of bed to blog, that wouldn't be a good thing, but I have my bowl of cereal by my side and I'm putting down my thoughts for the day.

The global meltdown has been quiet for a while.  It stayed on the front page for quite a while and then the media found some other exciting news to talk about.  But now it's back.  Apparently New South Wales is in a recession.

I've heard a lot of people talking about recessions since then.  There are a lot of worried people out there.

But I wonder if this isn't all a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If the media tells us that it's all going bad, then we all get worried.  Businesses start to react to the possibility by tightening their belts and spending less.  Then, because they're not advertising (tight budgets etc.) they don't bring in as much business and their fears get realised.

Ok, I know that a number of big companies have gone bust recently.  But why have they?  Have these massive companies really gone down the drain because they had several months of slow trading?  Were their businesses so precarious that they couldn't ride out a few slow months?  For the most part, I don't think so.

A lot of the big companies who have gone bust have had the same problem.  Their debt.  Not that their debt was crippling, but because like any business they had borrowed an appropriate level of money to grow or even continue to do business.  But now the banks have called in their loans.  Why did the banks call in the loans, because due to the credit crunch the banks haven't had as much money to lend to people and businesses as they did a year ago.  So, some of these large companies, who were trading well and who had perfect records of debt repayments were asked by their lenders to refinance their corporate loans because the banks wanted the money back to spend on more profitable areas.  So, because all of the banks are in the same situation, the companies couldn't refinance, so when their corporate loans were called in, they collapsed because they had to liquidate to repay that debt. 

Is it the banks fault?  Not really.  They're a business to and they have to do what they do in order to survive.

These big company shutdowns then impact the smaller businesses who support them and certainly affect the staff who are laid off.  Unemployment is on the rise again.

So back to us, what does it mean for my mortgage broking business?  Well, every indicator is that it's a great time to be a broker.  There is a lot of work out there for brokers.  First home buyers and refinances are everywhere.  So I'm going to make hay while the sun shines.  I'm spending the money on advertising and buying leads.

What advice would I give to other brokers?  Do the same and become aggressive in your marketing.  Don't buy into the doom and gloom.  Stay positive and get out there.  But be smart in how you spend your money - keep your other overheads low, but increase the amount you spend on marketing.

I'm off to plan my day and make some more appointments.