I get an email from a reader yesterday, saying that Oprah was doing a show on people who are living in their tents because of the recession.

You know, it’s early. You might want to go get a coffee and then read that again.

Not, like, standard issue homeless people. Or whackjobs. People with jobs that require them to wear suits. People with cars and iPods and Netflix accounts and Starbucks habits.

They get out of bed sleeping bag. They have a shower sponge down. They open their front door tent and they go to work.

(Aside: I personally think the worst part of this is not the tent but the day job, but maybe that’s just me. I also think that opening a Yahoo tent store would not be unwise at this point. Not joking.)

This is totally fucking insane. And we’ll get to that.

Anyway, so the Havinator and I are talking about this on the weekend and discussing our mutual crises. Changing the world is not a simple process, and we’ve got shit on our minds.

Our clients are terrified about the recession and scared they’re going to have to go back to work or lose their homes or whatever. We’re getting emails saying, “This is my last $500. Help?!”

Plus, it’s our birthday coming up, and we always get all emotional and shit when it’s that time of year.

So we got to talking about recessions. And why they matter so much. Why 8 out of the 10 articles on the cover of a major UK women’s magazine were all about the credit crunch. And the difference between the ittybiz that makes it the ittybiz that folds.

Here’s what we came up with:

Recessions magnify existing problems.

Stuff that’s no big deal in a so-so economy becomes a deal breaker when shit goes south. It used to not matter so much because people were beating down a path to our doors. Now that the buying public is more cautious, the little screw-ups that used to not matter, well, they matter.

Recession causes fear-based decision making.

When we’re afraid, we’re stupid. We don’t take calculated risks because we don’t take risks at all. We don’t look for opportunities because we’re afraid of getting our hopes up. We don’t get out there as much, so people don’t buy as much, and then we blame the recession.

Recessions cause stupid ass assumptions.

We assume that because we’re being cautious, everbody is being cautious. We assume that because we’re broke, everybody’s broke. We assume that because we wouldn’t pay what we charge for what we sell, neither would anybody else.

Then it occurred to us that it might not be a bad idea to, you know, tell people what we know. Because our businesses are doing better than ever.

(Caution: This is the part where I’m going get all Filthy Marketing Whore on you and tell you exactly how well we’re doing. I will spare you the screen shots because I’m not quite that bad yet.)

The last time I made less than five figures in 30 days was when I miscarried in the spring and took half the month off. In November and December, it was six figures. My rent on the Barn of Bliss is higher than any job salary I have ever earned.

Yes, there is a recession. Yes, I sympathize hugely with those in the midst of it. Yes, my heart goes out to those affected.

But NO FUCKING WAY do I believe it has to be this way.

NO FUCKING WAY do I believe fear and poverty and foreclosures are inevitable.

NO FUCKING WAY do I believe our children have to hear us say, “I’m sorry, baby, we can’t afford it.”

NO FUCKING WAY do I believe our only option is to cross our fingers and hope like hell we won’t get hit too hard.

No. Fucking. Way.

Next week, Havi and I are running a one-time-only class on recession busting for IttyBiz owners. The last time we got together to do something like this, we charged over $200 and we sold out. You’re not even going to believe what we’re charging for this one.

Go. Seriously. Check it out. Click on this link right here.

Check out the price.

If you think there is even a remote chance that you’re going to be impacted by this recession, you need to be on this call.

In the meantime, go check out Havi’s live-from-the-hippie-commune mush fest that she wrote about on her blog. (I apologize in advance for the total raving tree-hugger factor. Also for the duck. IttyBiz is not associated with the duck.)