It is Friday, September 11, 2009, and I am leaving the Associated Equipment Distributors's (AED) annual Executive Forum, which was presented in Chicago. As I'm sure most of you know, AED represents the dealers that sell construction equipment and the manufacturers that produce and sell through dedicated and independent dealers.

This year's forum covered the state of the construction industry; the state of the banking system as it relates to our industry, sources of capital, financing for equipment purchases and contractor/dealer relations; an update on stimulus spending; and, most importantly, when various segments of the industry will start to see a recovery that is meaningful in terms of available work. When I stop to think about it, any contractor would have been right at home at this forum and found the content beneficial.

The forum moderator asked all of us to write down three "takeaways" from each session. Since there were 10 sessions, that's a lot of takeaways. Consequently, I will address only the top three with the highest importance.

#1: Get out a clean sheet of paper
The message here is that we are not in what you call a cyclical adjustment. In this industry, we are in a depression, and it will take some time and effort to work our way out of it. What that means this time around is things are going to be different from this point forward, and you will need to adjust how you do business if you hope to prosper as a contractor.

So sit down with a pad of paper or your notebook and reinvent your business proposition going forward. In addition, examine every line item on your financial statements and ask yourself if you need this service or material, and if there is a more efficient way to get it. The consensus is contractors have taken their eye off the ball and have developed a lot of bad habits that will be impossible to maintain going into the future.