Where is the Opportunity?

A number of my readers have sent emails asking how they might profit from the current situation we are all facing in the U.S. economy. This is the big question on every one's mind (everyone with a job, that is). This is also a very entrepreneurial question, and says a lot about the people who are asking it.

My great grandfather, Pop, was a farmer in Iowa, and one of the old sayings that he passed on was a statement regarding the value of being a contrarian:
"When everyone else is running, you should walk."
(Of course, this may not apply during a fire, or would it?)

This leads me to a big question regarding our current situation:
Where is everyone else running to?

Everyone else is running away from the auto industry, away from banks, and away from the stock market. Everyone else is looking for the government to fix it, their bosses to save jobs, and their households to seriously cut spending. But I'm not everyone else. I know the government can't fix this, that there will be an auto industry, and that banks will survive. I also know that if I spend a little money right now I can find real bargains. This all leads me to to a plan:
1) Set a target at which you would like to invest in the stock market. Mine is 6,500. At that point I plan on buying back in. If we don't get that low, no big deal. If I buy at 6,500 and we sink lower, I'll buy again.
2) Upgrade your life. If you have steady income (and a rainy day fund), then you need to look at the bigger purchases that you have been putting off. Contractors are hungry, and stores are desperate. This means that everything (yes, everything!) is negotiable. Upgrade your furniture, or kitchen, or buy that new truck. These are the deals you've been waiting for.
3) Find a company that is thriving and study it, invest in it, and imitate it. For me this is McDonald's. Mickey D's is rocking, and everyone knows the jingle - I'm Loving It! They are a low cost provider operating under a franchise model that has limited the middle management salary problem while successfully incenting local owners to run great stores.

That's the plan....

Email me at bwa.texas@gmail.com with your ideas!