"I'll get by," said a colleague the other day when we were discuss business cards and following a newsletter article (link here) I'd written on the subject titled "10 ways say it with cards". The conversation was about what I refer to as "marketing makeovers", reinventing oneself. This colleague had approached me with a simple request, "I need to change something because what I'm doing isn't working."

In the current economic climate it's easy to feel that way. There is an undercurrent of uncertainty in so much of what we do in our personal and professional lives. Business has suffered across the board. What was once taken for granted is now an uncertainty (just look at GM, AIG or Lehman). Everyone is treading carefully because no one can afford to take a risk any more.

But, back to my conversation. We looked over my colleagues marketing material, and discussed how we could "tune" a few things here and there. One of the recommendations I made was a "makeover" of some of the marketing materials. She responded by saying "oh it's okay, I'll get by". What I was proposing was not expensive, I hasten to add, and my colleague knew that. But such is the economy that she wasn't willing to take even that small chance.

"Do you want to get by or get ahead?" I asked her. I explained that she knew she needed to try some new things, hence our conversation, but a change in approach coupled with a "make do" feeling on the supporting materials is a recipe for failure. As Yoda said in The Empire Strikes Back, "do, or do not, there is no try". If you want to change, then decide to change.

As a marketing person, it's my job to be honest, otherwise, we would have parted ways and her positive feeling about her new strategy would have lasted a day or two at the most. It was my feeling that the "makeover" was need to shed the "old" image. People like new things. You start a new job, you get a new suit. It makes you feel good and that shows. Yes, money is tight, I can attest to that, but if you want to try and remake yourself, don't settle for "getting by".

Decide to "get ahead". It doesn't have to be expensive and, to paraphrase a well-known proverb, "a small change is as good as a huge rest".