War is looming. The economy seems to be in tatters. Everyone’s fearful and saving their pennies. Isn’t this the WORST time to start a business?

On the contrary, there may be some benefits in starting a business in the “bad times”. In fact, there are some famous businesses today, which were started in some of the worst times imaginable. I'll get to those examples in a minute.

First think of what it’s like to start a business in the “boom times”. Money is plentiful, you can throw plenty of it around. The problem with that is, many businesses which start in the “boom times” DO throw their money around. When times get tough, these are the businesses that “go under”. Their “spend spend spend” approach hasn’t prepared them for the lean times ahead.

However, if you start a business in the tough times, you automatically have that “survival” mentality which helps you to have a successful business. You’re not wasting your dollars on unnecessary frills – it teaches you discipline. Because you already KNOW it will be tough, you will respond with your own survival strategies and tactics.

Another benefit is that, when times are tough, there’s less competition. In some ways, that means it is easier to gain a foothold, than when there is plenty of competition. When times become good again, you’re already ahead of the pack, and ready to rapidly leap forward.

Here are a couple of examples. Four months after the big stock market crash, in February 1930 – a few people started a finance magazine. Their friends and family probably thought they were crazy. Their business was “Fortune” magazine, which you can still buy on the magazine racks today. It seems like it would be the worst time to start a finance magazine – however, it probably also means that there was little or no competition.

What do you think about starting a business magazine, just every other business seems to be closing its doors from hard times? That’s what some people did. In September 1929, six weeks before the crash, Business Week magazine was started. Business Week has survived until this day.

Although times are tougher – those who start a business now may have a greater chance of long term success, than those who start a business during the boom times. That’s because the “discipline” you need will be more automatic – that discipline will become a part of your own business habits.

This is a pretty radical thing to say, I think – as it seems to go against the whole “vibe” in the media. What do you think about it?

There’s an article about this I posted about one-and-a-half years ago – which is where I took the examples of Business Week and Fortune magazine from. It’s originally from New Yorker magazine. You can read it here:

http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=5003

As the article says, “let the bad times roll” – and get your entrepreneurial mind working!

- Dien Rice


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