Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

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  1

  Fred H Schlegel

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I think there is confusion between 'good time to start'
  and 'less to loose.' So much entrepreneurial energy is
  released during downturns in part because existing
  businesses shed large numbers of highly creative
  individuals. (No job - create my own!) It may be more
  difficult to get something off the ground now, but if you
  are one of the talented (lucky?) few who do - it may end
  up being easier to establish and dominate your niche.

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  2

  www.thetorontorealestate.com

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I see the glass half full, history proves that
  most millionaires start there business in
  depression. There are thousands of opportunities in every field ,think ?
  http://www.thetorontorealestate.com

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  3

  jmcmichael

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Finding a balance between having both consumers and the government as clients/subscribers/customers could be to an advantage in a recession.

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  4

  bnicholson@...

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Many people buy a job rather than start a business. As I'm starting a business I can tell you first hand:
  - Management types have a super over-rated opinion of their worth to a start up. Having come from a high salary position they really believe that's what they are worth! Consultants with no work are hanging around hoping to get paid the same as they had in the boom times. It takes time for people to revise their self-worth, and if you do get them cheap they think you're ripping them off...
  - The obvious place for funding is the governments - they are desperate to find good businesses that can employ people and want to throw money at them to do it. However, there are lots of strings attached, so you need an expert to go through the processes - use several (different funds) and only pay them on commission (2% to ...?).
  - If you are developing a new product things take 4 times longer than you think - really!
  - Things are only cheaper if you can get them locally, otherwise the value of your currency is the deciding factor.
  - Outside of Gov't, there are no real resources to help start up businesses. People who have access to resources that could help you want an arm and a leg in return.
  - HNWIs are around, but they are looking for the impossible - despite having been burned in their "secure" investments, they want guarantees from start ups that haven't even traded yet!
  
  A real role government could play is to cut these money grabbing middle men out of the picture by providing a website where people and companies could connect directly, without having to pay 10% of annual income in fees for an "introduction". They may actually get more people in jobs that way.

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  5

  Alex Torrefranca

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I believe that to some, it is relative a good time coz they
  can start a business that leverages with this crisis by
  creating business like outsourcing where it helps to
  minimize costs of companies that are in desperate needs
  to cut down their operational expenditures.

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  6

  sonali1611

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I think its a really good and suitable period to start the business by using most cost effective methods, getting skilled manpower at reasonable rates, and same goes for raw material, technology etc. For getting customers to pay, I believe people are looking for something which fits into their bill and gives then value for money, so that gives new business good reason to suceed. Also with low new entrants it will much easier to build a brand by increased attention of prospective customers.

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  7

  AntonioCenteno

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  When is a Good Time?

  There is never a ?Right or Good or Perfect Time? for anything. I once tried to wait for the perfect time to ask out a high school crush ? the right time never came and I live with the lingering question of ?what if?. If all of us waited for the perfect time to have kids, we?d be in a very steep population decline. Life happens, and starting a business and the conditions surrounding it are as unique as we are.
  
  In my opinion the right time for a person or group to start a business is when they have the desire to persist in seeing their dream a reality; because the road is hard, long, and a lot of times just plain miserable. But if freely chosen, and with the right perspective, it can be an experience that will make any job ?working for another? pale in comparison.
  
  I don?t know if I started my company at a good time, but for me and my partners, the experience couldn?t have come at a better one.
  
  Antonio Centeno
  President, A Tailored Suit
  http://www.atailoredsuit.com/
  Learn how to dress properly with our free articles on men?s style
  

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  8

  markbubner

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I think it depends on what your Business is selling. If it saves businesses time & money, and the concept is easily explained, then anytime is good, but it should be even better in a recession.
  http://www.expertmagnet.com meets the above criteria, the only question is are businesses still buying in expertise? if yes, and I think that's the case, then it should succeed.
  
  Regards,
  Mark

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  9

  liorma

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  This is from an entrepreneur with a great team and a great idea - and I am not overrating.
  
  After realizing the conditions, we decided that for now we should get jobs. It's a tactical move. The reason is not just the economy, it's the whole picture - where you stand in terms of development, difficulties ahead, etc.
  
  So, the question of whether now is a good time to start a business or not is absolutely irrelevant. You should follow your dream, and never let anyone - NEVER LET ANYONE - tell you that you can't.

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  10

  twanless@...

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Since this is the topic of one of my seminars, I'd have to say yes, it is a good time. But only if you are diligent.
  Good times are like the tide that lifts all boats -- money's free and any fool can "establish a business" using little but aggressive sales tactics.
  
  In bad times, you need a strong value proposition, an exemplary (and useful)product or service, and strong knowledge about what you're doing.
  
  In fact, those are basic truths that describes starting a business in good times as well.
  Tony Wanless

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  11

  Bhoite

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  bUSINESS IS 70% LUCK SO IT DOES NOT MATTER WHEN YOU START. IF YOU ARE LUCKY THINGS START FALLING IN PLACE FOR YOU WHATEVER IS THE ECONOMIC CONDITION

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  12

  pravind

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Thanks to all for your valuable inputs.
  I am working with a good company and often feels starting a bussiness would be good for me but never had a comforting idea. When economy is bad risk of knowledge theft and deceiving bussinesses rises. As of when is the right time to start new bussiness at any time depends on what you write in the bussiness plan under : Who are your customer? Is your service/product unique? If your service is unique I don't see any reason for a failure. A unique and moderate utility service will do good even in recession time. I do believe in luck but I will not depend on it to decide this - so that factor is irrelevant for deciding to srat a bussiness. If anybody has started a bussiness in last 6-8 months, I would like to know about his/her start-up and how it is doing against expectation.

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  13

  bweb@...

  02/12/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  My take after 16 years as an independent consultant
  working from home and constantly shifting with the market:
  
  1. You will fail at most of your ventures and succeed, at least
  under favorable conditions only for a certain period before
  you have to re-invent the business to keep up or move on,
  depending on the nature of your business..
  
  2. You have to be a true entrepreneur and risk taker as well
  as be capable to deal with the failures else you are going to
  get yourself in deep trouble
  
  3. You need to know your market niche product/services very
  well and keep up daily with what is happening in your
  market.
  
  4. You have to always have at least 6 months of forward cover in the bank to live on.
  
  5. You must be able to research, invent, test and go into new
  uncharted waters in this particular recession as we are
  going to come out the other side with a lot of failed
  "business hopefuls" and a lot of new , successful and innovative businesses that will define a new economic era.
  
  6. Those that has paid their dues by being in business for a
  while in their particular field and are up to speed plus steps
  up to the plate positive of attracting the home run, will do
  well.
  
  7. Those that have time on their hands, never ran a business but want to start one: Invest in a business coach/consultant to take you though the steps rather than
  do it on your own
  
  So:
  
  Yes, it is a good time to start a good business laying
  foundation for the future.
  
  But its not for all.
  
  
  

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  14

  walters123

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Personally, I think it depends on the business. I am in the process of opening a small restaurant. My place will be inexpensive, homestyle, comfort foods, which most people love. On the other hand, however, if this were a place were dinners were $30 a plate, nobody would be able to afford that right now. Sell to your client base is what we always say, so that's what I am doing. No fancy meals, no extravagant decorating, just plain, simple, good food; that people can afford!

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  15

  terryw1

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  When is a good time, there is not time like right now. If you have an idea, a purpose and it is your passion, I say go for it.
  
  Those who wait for the right time never find it I say go for the business and bring God with from start to finish and you will flurish. And for those who think that God was not necessary in this message take a look at your world.

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  16

  ozjames70

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Some interesting insights. My view is that any time is a good time to sart a business as long as you are passionate about it, not looking for a job replacement, prepared to take on help in the areas where you are not a specialist and have the funding to survive the start-up time.
  In addition you need to have a saleable idea (product or service), experience in running a business, and a solid view of who your customers are going to be and how you'll sell your product or service. Many businesses with great products or ideas fail because they lack a real go to market strategy. If this is not your forte, get a business coach to help. It'll be money well spent.

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  17

  ybanks

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Yes, follow you heart. Business is just that, but a successful business is the one where you put your heart into it, where you connect with your consumers, clients, investors or whatever may be the case. A confident, sincere, positive, and gracious demeanor is like character references that goes before you and speaks to the hearts of your marketers (customers).
  Respect other positions and understand your purpose in their space for each encounter. In short, just remember that you and your business only exist because of each person you service and no matter what, treat and give each one the same respect and appreciation that has been afforded you by grace. It's not how you get there, but how you stay. Anyone can start a business, but staying in business is the true gift, effort and talent.
  Most businesses are in business for profit, of course, but try, being in business to serve and promote others while making a honest living.
  That's why we're were we are now, to much greed and no sharing.
  Remember, the more you give, the more you recieve. Customers, clients just people will keep coming, the money will keep flowing if you don't hoard it. Pay yourself a fair wage, pay your debtors and reinvest in yourself and your business to provide a better service each time you are able to pay yourself. Help others have an idea.
  I can go on and on, but it has to end. Like all things a business has a life and that life like all life will end eventually. How will your business legacy read, after all it tells a story representative of it's creator.
  
  (Sorry for any spelling errors)

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  18

  Susan Kuhn

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  If you have an idea that will serve a customer need...go for it. Everyone starting businesses this year is bootstrapping.
  
  I just got my first client for a business idea that I came up with after a few months of exploration.
  
  The fallacy in this article is the assertion that one makes business startup decisions based primarily on macroeconomic trends.
  
  You make decisions based on your ability to serve a need. And there are plenty of needs in today's economy.
  
  And THAT is recession proof thinking!
  
  Http://recessionproofthinking.com
  
  
  

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  19

  kthayjpha

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  It is interesting that many of you are looking at jumping into your business full-time. How about considering moonlighting. My husband & I are doing just that so we can side step needing loans.
  
  I know not all business concepts can be created this way, but it is an option which many do not seem to consider.

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  20

  TCarey

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  It is naive to think that the economy will forever be rosy. Businesses need to be able to with stand the bad times as well as the good. If your idea is sound, your plan well thought out and the execution of it great, then yes, it is a great time to start a business. To my way of thinking, a down economy simply means that there are less sources of revenue available (be it investors or customers). This in turn means that each potential customer has more value which makes the need to offer quality, value, service all the more important.
  
  If you were financing your own business out of your stock portfolio, this is probably nto a good time start, but your plan needs to account for the inevitable downturns that do exist

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  21

  beachstrategy

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Yes - bweb and Susan Kuhn - ditto.
  
  There are so many new businesses and consulting practices out there now - it's difficult to sift through and find the good ones. Please, new businesses, give some thought to the PURPOSE for your existence. Not just the blurb in your business plan called the mission statement. Really think about what makes you different - why someone should work with you instead of the thousands of others out there who offer the same services. What is your unique story? In a down economy, your value proposition is paramount...and you can't just offer a cost savings because that's what 99% of people are saying.
  
  Tip: Ask any potential vendor or consultant: What is their strength, their weakness? If you are one of the people who answers that there is no aspect of your business that you can't serve, that there isn't any need in your marketplace that you can't solve -- then you either are not keeping up with the newest demands and innovation in your marketplace or you are not being honest (and you just sound desperate for work).

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  22

  thejensen

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Wow Steve,
  
  Thanks for a totally pointless article lacking any substance or insight. Did you get paid to write that?

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  23

  RobertClarkRhodes2

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I absolutely agree, just don't be extravagent in your business plan - get'er done by yourself and keep positive cash flow the whole time. A business started on positive cash flow from day one is the strongest yet, and can grow any time...

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  24

  b160allen

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  @thejensen I actually didn't think I had anything to contribute to this discussion until I saw your comment. The purpose of online writing is to get the community talking together. This isn't a Newsweek piece but 24 people have left comments on this article. Sometimes it's best to start a conversation and get out of the way and let the readers take over. So to Steve I say, thanks for the forum.

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  25

  tramky

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  If you are just trying to create a job for yourself, the business is less likely to succeed. You are then doing it just for the money you hope to make, not because you have a passion for whatever it is. Such is a desperate business. Desperation breeds contempt.
  
  I have no idea what it's really like to obtain a business loan these days--I keep hearing that it's impossible. It's better to avoid loans, but with many businesses that is impossible. The warning posted here about a long runway is quite true--if you don't have enough money to keep it going with negative cashflow, it will fail just as you approach the starting line.
  
  On the positive side, cost of entry might be lower now with everyone in desperate straits. I'd like to establish a certain kind of cafe and wine bar now--I know what I want this place to look like, what will be offered there, and even a couple of locations that interest me. But I don't think I can do it without a loan, and I don't yet know enough about whether I can attract enough customers in this economy. But if I have an inner passion about anything, it is for THIS thing; I've been considering this idea for at least 3 years.
  
  

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  26

  bmurphy@...

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I believe Financial Capital is not the only Capital you need. Social and intellectual capital can give you many benfits. Social capital relates to your network. Right now it is so much easier to network as everyone is looking for solutions/options and many are prepared to listen and give/take advice or point you in the right direction.Unlike in boom times. Also 'intellectual capital', which is knowledge of your product or services and the access to 'brains' or Knowledge to assist you in your sector, is vital to a new business. Get these two on your side and perhaps the financial capital will follow.It sounds obvious but we need to see capital in all its forms.

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  27

  Steve Tobak

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  For all the entrepreneurs out there ...

  Excellent discussion. And thanks to b160allen for explaining to thejensen what blogging is all about.
  
  These are the five questions I ask of those making a business case for a new enterprise:
  
  1. What?s the market need? What critical customer or market problem does it solve?
  
  2. Is there a big market opportunity? Is it big enough to build a company around and interest investors?
  
  3. What?s the business model? Where does the company fit in the food chain, who will its customers be, and how will it make money?
  
  4. What?s the value proposition? What?s its competitive differentiation with respect to competing ideas, technologies, products or services?
  
  5. What are the competitive barriers? How defensible is it? Patents, know how, trade secrets, trademarks, or just time to market.
  
  From: http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=1802
  
  Steve Tobak

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  28

  tripallen

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I love the comment on 70% luck..true, however it is only 70%!
  
  Now is a great time to start a business. In our business we have found a niche and have taken advantage of the crisis.
  
  We have constructed our business so that it is flexible, so that we can change if we need to. When we come out of the crisis we can then expand on our success.
  
  Keep in mind that there is always an incubation period, a time to ramp up. Businesses will always start off slowly.. so be patient and use that time to develop and learn. Maybe this period is longer than usual- and because of that you will have to fight harder and smarter. But think about the rewards when things get better!
  
  Trip Allen
  Team Egyii, Singapore
  www.egyii.com

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  29

  gasior@...

  02/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  I have started three businesses both in good and bad times. This is a good or bad time only if you lost your job. Unemployment is 8% which means over 90% of the population have the capacity to buy if you have want they want. At www.vessvac.com we sell vacuum pumps and filters. We have switched focus to repair parts and offer the lowest prices. Before we focused on new systems. Starting a business means you could work all year for nothing or make a lot. For those unemployed it may be the only way.

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  30

  rodshseah

  02/14/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  good or bad times..there always buying and selling..it a matter of where is your standing in the markets..so however it is calculate the risk and venture out..I say there is a demand in projects,is either from a middleman or we have to do create ones.

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  31

  Ahmad.rw

  02/14/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  If your plan is ready, why not?

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  32

  bmurphy@...

  02/14/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  If your business has a purpose it will have a martket. Hark work is needed for the rest. Don't get too bogged down in all the details. Fail as fast as you can, to get up to speed. Good luck.

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  33

  dennis.wengert@...

  02/20/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  IDENTIFY all critical success factors; PRIORITIZE the 20 percent of the key critical success factors that will determine 80 percent of your success; FOCUS on addressing those key success factors in all aspects of the business plan; and IMPLEMENT the plan while paying constant attention to how the critical success factors are affecting the company.
  
  It's a formula that works for outstanding products or servives no matter what the economic environment because you're ALWAYS monitoring the critical success factors (including the operating environment) and adapting your plans.
  
  The key is to be honest with yourself, realistic in your expectations and conservative in your estimates. Even in good times, getting a start-up business to profitability takes twice as much money and three times longer than most entrepreneurs plan for.

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  34

  michelle@...

  02/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  It is a really good time to start a business and especially a franchise as you can capitaise on the experience and brand value created during the good times to carry you through the tough times. So if you ahve been made redundant - go for this option and you'll get all the support, training and doors opened for you!

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  35

  michelle@...

  02/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  This is the best time to start a businessa nd especially a franchise. You can buy into a brand that has industry credibility and brand value that will carry you through the hard times, open doors, support and train. What more could you ask for?

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  36

  eric@...

  03/05/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Is This Really a Good Time to Start a Business?

  Banks are tight on commercial loans. But, that doesn't mean that there isn't any money out there to start a business. My company specializes in funding commercial b2b startups.
  Eric Standlee
  http://linkedin.com/in/ericstandlee