Everyone knows that times are tough financially at the moment. A lot of businesses are finding it hard to make it and many are closing their doors forever.

At Carsonified, we had to make the really tough decision to let some of the Team go. It was very hard, but it was the right thing to do. In addition to that, we’re generating brand new revenue (and profit) by doing new things.

Thankfully, we’ve established a good reputation in the web design and development industry, so we decided to start doing design, development and consultancy for the web industry. We’ve established three exciting partnerships that are generating over £80,000 of brand new revenue (which is mostly profit, as we have the capabilities in-house).

We’re also changing our sponsorship model for our events. Instead of just creating value for sponsors at the physical events, we’re starting to work with them throughout the year to help them reach new customers and generate excitement. Sponsors need more value in order to justify spending their marketing budgets, and we’re delivering that by being more creative and working harder.

Bottom line: Evolve or perish

If you aren’t prepared to update and evolve your business model, you might be in trouble. It’s important to create new profit that didn’t exist in 2008.

In the comments below, please share any ideas you’ve had for creating more profit in 2009.

[Photo Credit: flickr.com/photos/apsmuseum]