It’s easy to carry the weight of the recession on your shoulders around your office, and to let that weight bring you down. It’s difficult to look beyond today toward better days, but it’s important to try.

I stay motivated by telling myself this is a temporary situation, and things will turn around. I remind myself that these sometimes dismal days will soon be behind us, and we’ll all tell war stories, and talk about lessons learned during this great recession.

All of these are true statements, so my conversations with myself are effective, and I remain motivated to do my job. The economy will get better, and for some architects and builders, it already is.

I have the privilege of speaking to architects and builders every week, and occasionally at trade shows and conventions to speak to them face to face. And I can tell you that almost every conversation I’ve had with readers of Residential Design & Build in the past two months has been about the increased traffic and phone calls they’re seeing, and in some cases actual signed contracts landing on their desks. Recovery is already beginning; You just don’t hear about it on the nightly news.

If your business still struggles, don’t start taking blame or beating yourself up for forces you can’t control, like the economy. And remember, you’re better than what your balance sheet shows; You are not your job.

The NAHB released a disturbing story this week. It cites the trouble many builders are having getting loans for new construction projects, or closing out existing loans.

Banks appear to be caving to outside pressure rather than relying on common sense and basic decency. And the billions of dollars in relief funds from the bailout program don’t seem to be helping builders at all. I thought the bailout money was intended to open up credit, not close it down even tighter.

Read the story and see for yourself how bad things are out there. The NAHB story has gathered 100 real-life examples of the problems real builders are having. It’s upsetting to read them, but you should.

It’s also upsetting when I see TV commercials showing families playing in their back yards, riding bikes, couples holding hands on moonlit strolls to the sounds of lovely, soothing music in an attempt to persuade homeowners to do business with banks. What … builders aren’t good enough?

Banks better start lending money again and stop building new branch locations on every street corner I see.

Can you adequately explain your business in 10 seconds? How about 15 seconds?

Can you successfully explain your business in one breath?

Give it a try right now. Don’t think. Just do it. Right now.

How’d you do?

If you struggled, then it’s time you develop your elevator pitch. You know, this is what you’d say to someone on a brief elevator ride if they ask, “What do you do?” or “What’s your business?”

Spend a little time working on your elevator pitch. You might be surprised at what you’ll learn about your business when going through the process of creating your pitch. It’s a good exercise. Hold a 30-minute meeting and see what your team comes up with.

One way to get your team’s creative juices flowing is to imagine you’re in the movie biz. A colleague of mine has a Hollywood friend who once told him that in order to capture the attention of a movie producer, you must be able to shout the concept at someone across a parking lot so the other person instantly understands what your movie is all about. For example, “It’s a buddy movie!” Or, “Boy meets girl, boy meets other girl, hilarity ensues!” You get the idea.

The easy way to get this done is to say, “We build custom homes.” Or, “We design custom homes.” But I suggest making it a bit more interesting. What about this, “We design custom homes according to the homeowner’s vision, not ours.”

What’s my pitch? “We’re a total-market magazine for both architects and builders of high-end custom homes who understand the close relationship between the design and build processes.”

What’s your pitch?

[Wanna share? Send me your pitch at rob.heselbarth@cygnusb2b.com.]

Ever have one of those days? My friend Nancy the airline employee had one of them last week. Let me tell you about it.

As I arrived at the gate for my flight home from the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show, I saw one lonely agent working the gate. Then I realized her name was Nancy, and she was boarding the earlier flight to Chicago. So I approached her and asked if I could get on the plane. She said no because it’s full. So I asked her if I could get on the standby list in case someone didn’t show up. She said no, she closed the standby list.

I’ve never encountered a standby list that was closed before, so I was confused and a little frustrated. I began to ask her why the standby list was closed, but before I could get all the words out, steam began oozing from her ears and a mean look appeared on her face as she cut me off and told me she would call security if I didn’t take a seat. Shocked, annoyed and frustrated, I turned around and sat my butt in a seat.

Later, when Nancy was out of sight, I approached the gate and said hello to Linda, who happened to be Nancy’s supervisor. I asked Linda if there’s any reason a standby list would be closed, and she said, “Absolutely. If the plane is in the process of boarding, the gate agent could close the list.” “Ah ha,” I thought. That makes sense, especially since my friend Nancy was the only one working the gate. Then I thought, surely Nancy was stressed out trying to get everyone on board the plane and didn’t want to deal with me. I suppose that’s understandable. I thanked Linda for explaining that to me, and walked away.

Now, if Nancy had only let me finish my sentence, she probably would have told me the same thing Linda told me. That would have been a much better ending way to get rid of me than threatening to call the cops on me, don’t you agree? Nancy let the stress of her situation get to her, and took it out on a customer, or client, one might say. Not a good idea.

Home builders and architects take note: Don’t be line Nancy. These most certainly are stressful times. I think the number of gray hairs on my head has tripled in the past 12 months. But I know that’s not your fault, and I know better than to allow myself to blow up about it in public, especially when talking to readers or advertisers at a trade show.

Builders and architects are not the same as airlines. If a client doesn’t like you, he can go down the street and do business with your competitors. You can’t do that as easily with airlines, and good ‘ol Nancy knows that.

Still, continue to be the professionals you are and don’t let the stress get to you. Step back from a bad situation, count to 10, take a deep breath, pretend to answer your mobile phone, or do whatever you must do to avoid snapping at your customer. Try this: Smile therapy. When you feel you’re about to snap, force a smile on your face. Literally. It’ll look fake, which it is, but you’ll be surprised how it changes your attitude.