Sooner or later, every business owner will face a slowdown in work.

Whether it’s clients retiring or going out of business, or even a nationwide economic downturn, what can you do to stay motivated when the phone isn’t ringing, and no new business is coming in?

There are two ways to look at this: One is to relax and enjoy your time off because you may not have the opportunity anytime soon; the other is to capitalize on your free time and do all the things you can’t normally get to when business is booming.

Tackle long-neglected tasks
If you decide to use the time productively, you might want to tackle all the mundane tasks you normally set aside, including updating your website, backing up your work to external hard drives, designing fresh business cards, or creating a new pricing structure.

Consider upgrading your computer, your internet provider, your modem and router, or purchasing a new smartphone or tablet to allow you to work more efficiently. Study new apps that can streamline workflow and track your time wisely. Look at new technology that can make your work life easier, more productive, and more organized.

Boost your networking efforts
Another way to ward off future slowdowns is to double your networking efforts. Publish a blog that includes advice to new people in your industry. Reconnect with past customers you enjoyed working with. Attend a conference or join a professional organization to meet new people in your field.

Another way to extend your networking is to ask advice from colleagues. Do they have hints for building your business? Do they have new ways to hunt prospective business that might also work for you?

If you aren’t already doing so, join a professional organization in your industry and become active as a volunteer. It’s sure to bring more business your way.

Look for work in your own backyard
Inquire with existing clients if there are additional projects you could do for them. Consider checking in with dormant clients to say hello and remind them of your services. Update your e-mailing list to include new prospects and clients.

Cultivate existing clients
It’s easy to take clients for granted, or to acknowledge them once a year at the holidays. Instead, why not sent them small gifts or hand-written notes of thanks for their loyalty? You might also want to develop a small promotional gift that highlights your business and send it to past, current, and inactive clients as well as potential clients.

Once you are certain that your clients are happy with your work and plan to continue with you, ask them for referrals, and get testimonial statements from them to add to your marketing materials.

Beef up your marketing materials
A business slowdown is the perfect time to concentrate on promotional strategies and tactics. Update your LinkedIn profile, begin publishing high-level content on your LinkedIn page that positions you as a thought leader in your industry. Develop a blog about your industry. Send regular e-newsletters to clients and prospects.

Re-educate yourself and stay current in your field
Since you have a little more time on your hands, use it to read the new books published in your field. Stay current by catching up on industry publications and periodicals. Learn new skills through LinkedIn classes, professional webinars, and business podcasts.

There is no time like the present to do all the things you put off when business is busy. By implementing these tasks, your work promises to be as busy as you want it to be – sooner than you think.

As a journalism major right after the Watergate scandal and the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporting by Woodward & Bernstein at the Washington Post, everyone wanted to become an investigative reporter. Competition was fierce.

I worked hard as a stringer and on the student-run college newspaper. Still, my college professors warned me that excellent writing and award-winning reporting skills alone weren’t going to land me the job I craved.

For that, I had to cultivate a network of professional editors and writers who knew me and validated my work. I was compelled to attend events sponsored by the professional chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists and monthly meetings of the Orange County Press Club.

To a relatively shy, inexperienced 18-year-old, it was a monumental task to meet new people, befriend them, and master this thing called ‘networking.’

Since then, I’ve worked as a reporter, copy editor, city editor and managing editor for several newspapers and magazines and in public relations as a consultant for a full-service agency and a university.

Along the way, the networking skills I first learned in college have yielded an expansive network of colleagues and friends. Cementing my network required additional service, so I was elected president of the Orange County chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and joined CASE, the professional association for university communicators.

It may sound easy, but building a good network takes time and effort. I choked down many a rubber-chicken dinner and sipped many cocktails at mixers while standing on throbbing feet at the end of the day, when all I wanted to do was relax at home, reading bedtime stories to my three kids.

But, it was all worthwhile. Colleagues have opened doors for me in every place I’ve worked. Rarely a week goes by that I’m not networking – including having lunch with a colleague, attending a networking event, or sending a job listing to someone who’s looking for work. 

Networking has made it possible for me to establish and grow my communications consulting business after I was forced into retirement in 2014. All it took was a single Facebook post advertising my availability to generate more than 75 responses from supportive contacts.

Networking is what I do. Once I learned it, I’ve never stopped. Today, as president of the local chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, I have a new and expanding network of communications professionals. Now, networking comes naturally. Blessed with nationwide connections, I still network in some fashion every day.

There are countless how-to articles and books that offer many useful tips when you’re learning to network. My advice?
1. Join a local industry-related business group and attend meetings faithfully.
2. Speak to other attendees and get to know people.
3. Practice smiling and being friendly.
4. Know your elevator speech.
5. Pay attention when other people talk about what they do. Remember their names.
6. When you leave an event, remember who you spoke to. File the information somewhere. There will be a future opportunity to connect again.

I’m very thankful to the profs and pros who recommended networking to a green newbie – my decades-old network has served me well. And should you heed my advice and experience, I know that you too will reap rewards from your networking efforts.