Credit crunch, economic downturn, recession . ..

…call it what you will, it still means the same thing for a lot of people: unemployment. One minute you’re in a job, maybe contemplating your next holiday or possibly a promotion or career move when suddenly, without warning, you’ve got a P45. Even worse is the double whammy of your partner having a P45 as well.

Now, more and more skilled professionals are going to be facing redundancy. Not only are they facing redundancy but it’s unlikely that there will be replacement jobs coming up for them in a similar sphere in the foreseeable future. And this situation isn’t helped by the fact that, almost uniquely in Britain, when people make the decision to go for a career or a skill path, they look for employment in a particular sector and tend to stick with it. With virtually no movement among the sectors, there is currently even less chance of finding a new job. So what now for the skilled professional?

At university back in the late 1970s, I sat my first final year exam the day Margaret Thatcher came to power. A year later, I was one of the very few people who got into a post graduate teaching course and I taught for five years before cashing in my pension and starting a specialist food company. After that I moved on to what has become my passion for the last 15 years – which is how and why people start businesses. I am, therefore, a veteran of a few recessions and certainly remember that horrendous moment when mortgage rates hit something like 13 per cent . So my sympathy goes out to anybody who has suddenly been landed with a P45.

Being told you are no longer wanted is devastating. The emotional toll affects not just you but everyone around you.  And yet – it can also be immensely liberating. In fact, there are many people out there who have used redundancy as a starting point to go off and set up their own business.

Is it lunacy to suggest that people should think about starting a business in the face of one of the worst recessions ever? Absolutely not. Because chaos, strangely enough, produces opportunities. Of course your first concern is going to be how to pay the mortgage and cover your other financial commitments. Most skilled professionals have got debt and worrying about how to handle that is going to be a big issue. And no one should ever start a business out of desperation because in those circumstances you haven’t got the emotional energy and reserves to see it through.

But what is worth doing is standing back and instead of automatically going for the employment option, giving some serious consideration to starting your own business. And I don’t just mean going self employed, I’m also talking about  the possibility of building up a business that could eventually employ other people. The expertise of the skilled professional is considerable and can be put to serious use in setting up a business. But how do you actually go about doing that?

The first step is to start talking about it. We don’t talk about entrepreneurship in Britain. We don’t talk about starting businesses and we don’t allow people the opportunity to explore ideas. Consider this fact: the most successful businesses have come from people having fun. And you don’t need to do start up a business all by yourself. You can do it with friends, family or colleagues. It can be a collaborative venture.

Here’s another fact to bear in mind: no business ever started with a business plan, it starts with a conversation. And that conversation is vital because that’s when you’ll discover  what switches on your inner entrepreneur. Don’t go down the route of interesting ideas that could, for example, revolutionise the cleaning of toothbrushes. That’s not going to happen unless you’ve got a real knowledge and understanding of a particular market.

Be sensible, be practical and ask yourself: what skills, talents and passions have I got that, if I converted them into a business, I could make a good living out of ? Or, as the Americans – bless them – would say: how can I “monetise” my skills, passions, hobbies etc.? And to use another Americanism, you then go and “conversate” with lots of people – which is a word an American entrepreneur coined to describe the way he talked about his business.

So having established what you really enjoy doing that might have some potential as a business idea, you then need to ask yourself: could I make some money out of it? And that’s when you start to test yourself and test your idea by trying it out. Dip your toe in the water of entrepreneurship by, for instance, clearing out your attic and selling your unwanted junk. eBay has produced more entrepreneurs than anything else in recent times and many can vouch for the thrill of making money out of nothing.

The next step is: gathering information and resources. Once you’ve got a feeling that starting a business could be an option for you, start exploring.  Don’t read management books – they’ll kill you! But go and find out about other people who have started a business. For younger entrepreneurs, I recommend “Make Your Mark” which is  aimed specifically at them (the under 20s??) but for everyone else, my own website, www.enterprisecafe.tv is packed with information about all aspects of business start up, delivered in a fun and friendly way. And read my book “Tortoise Walking for Beginners” which I wrote at the insistence of the many hundreds of people who have attended Enterprise Island events and teaches you how to think and act like an entrepreneur.

And the final step: stop thinking like an employee, who has things done to him or her, and start thinking like an employer – who does things. Losing your job is a big shock; starting a business is a big change but one of the reasons America comes out of recessions well is because people go out and  start businesses. Difficult times can bring opportunities because chaos is what entrepreneurs capitalise on. There is always an opportunity out there but if you don’t think about it and you don’t discuss it, you’ll just end up at home alone, poring over the situations vacant ads. And where’s the fun in that?

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by exploring the possiblity of starting up your own business while looking for a new job at the same time.

Similar Posts:

• Lose Weight? Stop Smoking? No Start a Business!
• Business struggling in the recession?
• Green business: a contradiction in terms?

Why Share?