Entrepreneurs - How Can You Start A Business During A Recession?
Entrepreneurs - How Can You Start A Business During A Recession?
Think Positive: Don’t let the doom and gloom get you down. Think that you are on an adventure that is going to make your world much better.
Work Hard: Getting a business started is hard work in the best of times and a recessionary period is not the best of times so be prepared to work hard – very hard.
Good solid Business Plan: Be very detailed in your planning and almost pessimistic on your forecasts. Ensure that you are able to become profitable within a year or two at the most. Design a lean company that can be easily up scaled when the better times come.
Research your market well: Make your market research very detailed and ensure that any data you use is tailored to these more difficult times. Confirm that you know exactly what people need (as opposed to want) and how you can meet these needs.
Understand your risks: They will be different and more prevalent. Ensure you have good contingencies to meet and overcome them.
Need as little cash as possible: Start your business small and test the waters. If possible, try not to need funding as this will be difficult to obtain and is one less problem and stress for you.
Lease or borrow, not buy: Keep your costs and your risks down by keeping your start up costs down. Don’t buy anything unless you have to. Borrow from friends and your home if you can. Use a home office rather than rent an office if possible. Many large corporations started in sheds or on kitchen tables – including all those mentioned above. It is becoming more and more acceptable to use a home office now.
Good strong branding: Ensure that your brand meets the needs of those in a recession. You will note that many supermarkets have changed their branding by bringing out low cost/good value ranges.
Very high perceived value: In recessionary times people are looking for bargains. Design your products and services so that they have a high perceived value at a low cost. Make your customers want and need your offerings. In your marketing sell the benefits and lifestyle that they will accrue by using them. Look at how more experienced companies have changed their marketing.
Route to market: Look at different ways of bringing your products to market e.g. use direct sell, mail order, kiosks, party planning etc. instead or opening a retail outlet.
Scale your products to a recession budget: Review what you are offering and make changes so that the product and the price are suitable for a reduced budget and a reduced wish to purchase. This may mean offering tasters of larger items and then building an upward product funnel for the better times. If you are providing services consider a few seminars and then up sell your bigger services. If you are offering large items then consider either breaking them down, or if this is not possible, leasing instead of selling or even just offering repairs or maintenance.
Scale your prices to a recession budget: Similarly your prices should reflect the market ability to pay. This might mean offering better terms, but definitely means getting the best wholesale price you can or the lowest manufacturing prices. If you are consulting, offer on-site seminars rather than use a hotel. Scale down your business costs so that you can cut your prices as much as possible.
Provide good quality products and understanding services to keep them coming back. Build loyalty to your company and profits so that people will stay with you rather than jump to your competitors. In a recession people are very price sensitive but they still want good products and service.
Pay commission rather than salaries: Keep your costs down by paying as much as possible in commission. Help your staff make sales by providing quality products, good marketing, great adverts and appropriate training then incentivises them to sell. Do it yourself as much as possible.
In a recession, it takes a lot of hard work to get a business started, but if you are prepared to study hard, design a robust business model and work smart you should have a lean, robust, business ready to make a great deal of profit when the recession ends. Good luck.
Entrepreneurs How Can You Start A Business During A Recession - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Lister's Website.
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Starting a business during a recession seems such a silly thing to do. You may have no other choice if you are sitting at home with your redundancy cheque. Or your entrepreneurial spirit may have been stirred up. Disney started during the recessional period of 1923-24, HP started during the Great Depression and Microsoft during the 1975 recession – so it can be done. Here are a few pointers for you.
Think Positive: Don’t let the doom and gloom get you down. Think that you are on an adventure that is going to make your world much better.
Work Hard: Getting a business started is hard work in the best of times and a recessionary period is not the best of times so be prepared to work hard – very hard.
Good solid Business Plan: Be very detailed in your planning and almost pessimistic on your forecasts. Ensure that you are able to become profitable within a year or two at the most. Design a lean company that can be easily up scaled when the better times come.
Research your market well: Make your market research very detailed and ensure that any data you use is tailored to these more difficult times. Confirm that you know exactly what people need (as opposed to want) and how you can meet these needs.
Understand your risks: They will be different and more prevalent. Ensure you have good contingencies to meet and overcome them.
Need as little cash as possible: Start your business small and test the waters. If possible, try not to need funding as this will be difficult to obtain and is one less problem and stress for you.
Lease or borrow, not buy: Keep your costs and your risks down by keeping your start up costs down. Don’t buy anything unless you have to. Borrow from friends and your home if you can. Use a home office rather than rent an office if possible. Many large corporations started in sheds or on kitchen tables – including all those mentioned above. It is becoming more and more acceptable to use a home office now.
Good strong branding: Ensure that your brand meets the needs of those in a recession. You will note that many supermarkets have changed their branding by bringing out low cost/good value ranges.
Very high perceived value: In recessionary times people are looking for bargains. Design your products and services so that they have a high perceived value at a low cost. Make your customers want and need your offerings. In your marketing sell the benefits and lifestyle that they will accrue by using them. Look at how more experienced companies have changed their marketing.
Route to market: Look at different ways of bringing your products to market e.g. use direct sell, mail order, kiosks, party planning etc. instead or opening a retail outlet.
Scale your products to a recession budget: Review what you are offering and make changes so that the product and the price are suitable for a reduced budget and a reduced wish to purchase. This may mean offering tasters of larger items and then building an upward product funnel for the better times. If you are providing services consider a few seminars and then up sell your bigger services. If you are offering large items then consider either breaking them down, or if this is not possible, leasing instead of selling or even just offering repairs or maintenance.
Scale your prices to a recession budget: Similarly your prices should reflect the market ability to pay. This might mean offering better terms, but definitely means getting the best wholesale price you can or the lowest manufacturing prices. If you are consulting, offer on-site seminars rather than use a hotel. Scale down your business costs so that you can cut your prices as much as possible.
Provide good quality products and understanding services to keep them coming back. Build loyalty to your company and profits so that people will stay with you rather than jump to your competitors. In a recession people are very price sensitive but they still want good products and service.
Pay commission rather than salaries: Keep your costs down by paying as much as possible in commission. Help your staff make sales by providing quality products, good marketing, great adverts and appropriate training then incentivises them to sell. Do it yourself as much as possible.
In a recession, it takes a lot of hard work to get a business started, but if you are prepared to study hard, design a robust business model and work smart you should have a lean, robust, business ready to make a great deal of profit when the recession ends. Good luck.
Entrepreneurs How Can You Start A Business During A Recession - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Lister's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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