Why in the world would anyone want to start a business in a recession?
There’s plenty of legitimate reasons, but for now we’ll talk about three:
- Lower Barriers to Entry
- Abundant Real Life Case Studies
- Moving Opposite of the Herd
Here we go…
Lower Barriers to Entry
During tight economic times it’s counter-intuitive to start investing precious resources in a new venture – but there’s rarely ever going to be a better time!
Tough economies produce downward pressure on prices for goods and services as competition stiffens and price slashing starts. A savvy business person (which obviously you are) will recognize that the things he wanted yesterday can be had cheaper today!
The consumer holds the cards during times like this. While it’s unfortunate to see businesses fail, it can cause a window of price dropping, or better customer care and service as the fight to gain and retain a customer rages.
What does this mean for the person wanting to start a new business? Lower costs for start-up goods and services. The ability to fly under the radar. Quick gains in market share against entrenched competition too focused on putting a tourniquet on today’s massively hemorrhaging wound.
Abundant Real Life Case Studies
This may seem a bit simple, but it’s well worth noting. Most people look back at failures, etc. and see clearly what went wrong. The old “Hindsight’s 20/20″ thing.
As someone looking to start a business during a recession, you are still able to have an objective outsider’s view of what’s going on in the market you wish to stake a claim in.
By this I mean that you can see and dissect who’s winning and why, and consequently who’s losing and why. This sounds obvious, but is anyone really doing it?
Do you have a notebook at home or a file folder that you can cram with insights? Tidbits from the news, your friends or your own experiences, and the general public feel about what’s happening and why in your market? Get one.
Even if you never start a business, you can be an armchair CEO in no time. Once you see what is and isn’t working, as well as how the landscape is changing in your target market, you’ll be well armed for battle. And it’s all free, in real time, dished up daily.
The vulturous pundits love to sit and pontificate about the dying or dead as they feed their own egos – let ‘em. For the cost of a notebook and pen, you get a priceless education.
Okay – moving on…
Moving Opposite of the Herd
This is a no brainer.
If you look around and realize you don’t like the circumstances of the majority – then don’t do what the mainstream crowd is doing. That’s it.
Most people don’t commit much time or effort to things. “If it’s not easy, it must not be my thing…” That’s a pervasive attitude that many people have – and it’s also terribly destructive. People poo-poo work and the effort it takes to actually become highly skilled at something to their own ruin.
For example, I took keen interest watching my kids learn to walk. They didn’t just try for a few days, plop down on their butts and say “Man, this walking thing isn’t working for me, I guess it’s not my bag”. No! They fell down and got back up – over and over – days, weeks…then one day…A Step! Months later they were sprinting through the house!
It was a process, it took time to develop the skill set. Most people don’t bother. You need to bother, especially if you’re going to start a business… in any economy!
Scores of “the majority” will tell you that you’d be crazy to start a business in tough economic times, and they’d be right…IF you were going to go at it with the attitude and commitment level of the rest of the crowd.
But you won’t…because as we learned earlier…you’re savvy. Right?
Good.
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