Recession Sparks New Dreams

I read or hear whenever this country is in financial trouble, when jobs are scarce and employers aren't hiring that the number of people starting new businesses rises.

This isn't news, really. The majority of people - when forced - opt for survival over a slow financial death. Creativity flows. How do I feed myself and my family? How do I pay the monthly mortgage or rent? Where do I find money for gas just to run a few errands?

These are hard questions to answer. And if one is wont to stand up and fight for survival rather than running and hiding or throwing up their hands in defeat, one will find the means to meet the end. Face it, it's much easier to wallow in self pity, lie on the couch watching television while creeping into depression.

This brings up a pet peeve of mine. Commercials for anti-depressants induce a rage within me I can not control. I holler at the television whenever I see an actor portraying a depressed person. "Get up! Exercise! Take vitamin B. Take a butt-load of vitamin C! Get productive!" All of these have proven effective toward what the psych people call depression.

But back to what I was saying. Yes, during financial crisis studies show an increase in the pop-up of new businesses. These people have found how easy it is to begin one and have discovered a niche to fill. Starting a new business is simply a matter of finding what is needed and wanted. Think about it. Someone out there came up with the idea of clothes pins to hang clothes on a line. How did he come up with the idea? He observed a need and fulfilled it. A need could be something as simple as providing competition to a business whose fees are high and out of control.

Some ideas are easier to implement than others. If you've come up with a new design for a wind turbine blade, then you'll have to fork out money to patent it, market it to businesses that build wind turbines then find a company that will manufacture it. But if you're starting a recycling service, house cleaning or lawn service, you need only to aim your marketing efforts at businesses or home owners that use these services.

How? Get out there and knock on doors. It really is that simple. You would be surprised at how many are interested because they're sick of paying high prices, the providers do a crappy job, aren't reliable or the person doing the job dropped their customer.

No, I'm not surprised at the rise of new businesses starting. It's par for the course and is - for many entrepeneurs - a matter of survival.