Why do people say "Now is the time to start a business"?

bushykangaroo

Just wondering what the reasoning is from people who say "now is the time to start a business" to people who are considering starting a business in the recession. Is the reasoning behind this view that start-up costs are low and you can negotiate cheap rent for a premises etc,, during recession times. But surely theres not much point setting up a business when the general public have no spare money to spend? And lets face it, theres a serious amount of people (fools might be a bit harsh to say) with serious personal debt, and even if some of these people still have a job, which is more and more likely to turn into a 3day wk, or a 10% paycut or parttime or reduced in someway, they arent going to have any spare money literally due to paying off personal debt and keeping up with their mortgages. I know everyone isnt in this situation, but a lot are. Is this recession unique with its large percentage of people in personal debt, or have previous recessions had high personal debt too?

I would have thought the opposite would be the case, ie: the best time to start a business is just before a boom or upturn of some sort, and even during a boom the higher start-up costs will be offset by the plentiful supply of business and money coming in?

I suppose there are pros and cons to both scenarios, feel free to discuss both scenarios but i'd be very interested in learning more of the pros of setting up a business during recessionary times.

From a personal point of view, I want to set up a business now and be a success as it's harder and I think since most people learn from start ups, the lessons I'd learn for the rest of my life would be invaluable. I just hope they won't be potentially "business closing" sort of stuff but that's up to me to make sure that doesn't happen.

Why would I do it now? Because I'm 24 and have nothing to lose and I have what I think is a really good idea.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl-ai9HuR60

Follow the curve... Up down up down, etc etc etc...

gypsy777

Lots of highly skilled people losing their jobs with little chance of finding work.
Seems to me if you're in that position then nows the time to pursue a start up, provided you have a sound idea. Some people will have to take matters into their own hands. I guess a lot of the risk that would normally be associated with going it alone are offset by the fact that you may have no better alternative.
Also I imagine government will have to start making big changes to support start ups because it's the best way to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

Darragh29

'Cos change brings opportunity and right now, there is a hell of a lot of change going on!

bushykangaroo

Darragh29 wrote: »

'Cos change brings opportunity and right now, there is a hell of a lot of change going on!

Yeah, but its change for the worse? Whats the point in coming up with a cool changing idea if the general public cant avail of it due to lack of funds. Change isnt always a good thing. But i see how it can bring good opportunity aswell.

chillywilly

i think it is a great time to start up a business for afew reasons.

1. If you have the money to start up now you dont have to worry about lending and falling behind on payments etc.

2. Your potential competitors might be going out of business(not that i want to see businesses closing, but in a business sense, a competitor down is better for your business)

3. Businesses are looking for ways to cut back, and therefore will cut back on advertising. This gives start up businesses a chance to get their nose in on advertising while other businesses cut back and this gives start ups a chance to build a reputation until things pick up again. Kind of gives them a head start.

Im sure theres others

betonit

markets arent big enough for large players. Eg a large furniture chain might have to sell 100 peices a week to make it worth while. The market might have shrunk to 20 pieces a week. A small independant guy might only need to sell 3/4 to make a living. He/she can build from there.

lanod2407

bushykangaroo wrote: »

Yeah, but its change for the worse? Whats the point in coming up with a cool changing idea if the general public cant avail of it due to lack of funds. Change isnt always a good thing. But i see how it can bring good opportunity aswell.

bushykangaroo - I think you're slightly off the mark with your thought process.

"Change for the worse" - that's purely a matter of perspective - it's only change for the worse if it's impacting your product or service in a negative manner and you cannot adjust to that change.

"Cool changing idea" - it's only cool if there's a market for the product that you can service and make a profit - otherwise it's just an idea that sounds cool. It'd be cool to be able to burst all the clouds coming in off the Atlantic so the sun would shine more often ........ but there it stops!


Change brings opportunities that people exploit by bringing new ideas or products to market to fill a new need, or make changes to existing offerings that are enables by new technologies or regualtions that make that product cheaper or better - that's how you need to think.

Back to your "change is bad" position - look at a product / service / industry where change has been "bad" or had a detrimental effect ......... now design a product or service that deals with that, and would have a market to sell into.

smelltheglove

I am not sure which way to look at it either. I have recently registered myself as a sole trader. I have spent a couple of months running a business with a view to take it over, photography. I have to admit I backed out of it only yesterday as the time has come to invest but I wasnt so sure if it was the right thing to do.

During a boom time it would be harder to make a name for your business when there are a lot more larger competitors with more marketing money to spare. But as mentioned above during a recession they cant necessarily cope with the downturn.

I think you need to be realistic in your expectations. My expectations were quite low with the last venture but even they werent met. I am keeping my eyes open for a new location etc but it is a hard time to start up if you dont have a lot of money to invest and the banks are not very forthcoming either.

I think we all have to play it by ear but the more people who go out and try, the sooner we get this country out of recession. We need the money to be going back into Irish pockets, i.e. I am an Irish photographer, pay me 20 for a print, I may spend 10 of that in another shop, increasing someone elses business. Pay lets say pixi 25 for a print, (imaginatively speaking I dont know their prices) the 25 goes to a multinational company, and maybe 1 will got to a staff wage. Thats 9 euro not being spent in ireland. Say thats even just 10 prints in a week, 90 euro my local shopkeeper wont get. Correct me if I'm wrong but the way I see it is we need to buy off the joe soaps to get this place going again cos its the joe soaps that go on to spend the money again.

lanod2407

smelltheglove (I'm not even gonna ask about the name!!!)

Agree with you on the spending front. We should be asking ourselves where we're planning to spend our money, and then asking again when we see the product a few quid cheaper from abroad. Better to support local.

BUT - for that to work, local suppliers have to play ball and reduce their prices - and I see that not happening day after day after day. I try to buy local but am prevented from doing so repeatedly by greedy local suppliers who refuse to compete more for the business.

These greedy buggers prefer reduced volumes for inflated prices than a fair price and higher volumes.

smelltheglove

lanod firstly name is from spinal tap the movie.

I agree about the suppliers, the area where I have been working for a while opened my eyes to a few things, the prices things can be bought for and the mark up some shops have which is blinding.

I have a young family and I want to support them as best I can however I would not screw people into paying above value in order to do so. It is disappointing that not everyone has this outlook but thats the way the country has gone. Everyone wants bigger and better, now people have to focus on getting sorted and local is the only way. I did the buy online a few times, I have to admit there is one uk place I still buy from because the prices are less than half the irish counterparts and this helps me reduce my prices. My main supplier though is a local businessman so when I get paid, he gets paid.

At Christmas against all beliefs I went up north but the guilt killed me and I only bought one thing. We need to all look at who we are buying from, I need new glasses, I am not going to vision express, a large uk company, I am going to the local opticians and even though I know I will wait 2 weeks for my glasses to arrive rather than one hour I would prefer to spend there.

I think it may be an idea to introduce a sticky maybe of the new local guy businesses also where people can update with their own business and ones they come across.

Savman

I'd think this is the time to start because, as already mentioned, the big multinationals are pulling out left right and center. If you are good at what you do, offer a very good service and are priced competitively, I would think you will always be in business.

People are going back to some very old fashioned principles, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, there will be less cash floating around but there's still 4 million of us inhabiting this island, we have to live.

maninasia

Of course it is not the best time to start a business as there is less money in the economy and people and companies are very fussy about spending cash.
It is simply a better OPTION for a lot of people now as many have lost their jobs, salaries going down and lack of job satisfaction. Simple really.