Lately, the headlines have been scary. Unemployment is increasing. There are concerns from the presidential candidates. Real estate values are sagging and foreclosures are skyrocketing. And, premier companies – like Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) – have raised billions of dollars to deal with heavy losses.

So, if the economy is slowing down, how can your business deal with things?

Let's take a look:

Deal with hidden costs: When looking at expense items, some might seem small. But it's often the case that these items – in aggregate – can turn into a big deal.

According to Tom Sharples, president of Qorvus Systems: "Typical small- or medium-sized businesses that have been around for a few years can find duplicative costs: unused cell-phone contracts that continue to rack up charges, subscriptions to services associated with long-departed employees and often all sorts of legacy junk that no one even remembers ordering, but that you're still paying for every month."