Is This A Good Time To Build A Business
Well it all depends on how you look at things to be honest. If you have an entrepreneurial mindset or you have always wanted to build a business and never had the time then this would be a perfect time to build a business or start a new business venture. As Wayne Dyer once said
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”
He was so right. After all, anything and everything in life is all up to interpretation is it not? About what you choose.
Why Is This A Good Time To Start A Business?
Let’s first look at what has prompted this article and what’s going on in the world. Frankly the uncertainty that’s all around us as a result of the Coronavirus has left many wondering what’s next. We’ve seen it first hand with our own family, our clients and students and of course we feel it ourselves make no mistake.
So the question is why are these uncertain times a great time to start a new business or dust off one that you may have started or thought about starting in the past, but have not done anything with for a while?
We believe that right now it’s because of one thing. TIME.
You have time
All around the world people are living in self isolation / stay at home instruction. Even if you are able to work from home as three of our children and their spouses are doing, you are saving time by not having to commute. They’ve told us this has completely changed their view of working in London and how much time is lost travelling. It’s probably the same for you we would imagine and that time can be used to create your new business (and not interfere in what work you may have been asked to do from home). If you are staying at home, but not able to do your job from there, you may have even more time to work on developing a business (for instance if you have been furloughed by your employer).
The question is what can you do with this extra time to create and build a new business?
Let’s put our management consultant’s hats on here (that’s what we did before we gave up the daily commute and started an online education business back in 2009) and give you some strategies and things to think about.
What’s Your Idea For Your New Business Venture?
We’re assuming here that you don’t already have a business in mind and that being the case, this is the time to think about your knowledge, interests, passions, and skills. Anything that interests you or you know about enough and that could make a great business. Assuming you have an idea in mind then you need to map out the pieces of that business idea so you can turn it into reality. If you need to brainstorm this just reach out to us and we can hop on a zoom call and help you develop that idea.
We’ve got the time if you’ve got the idea!
Create A Business Plan
Now don’t run a mile when you read this please. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy at this stage and it very much depends on what business you want to build. It can be as simple as a list of your business goals and strategies and resources you need to accomplish each goal. When you have the plan in place you will know what you need to do next.
Learn Something New
This is what we did.
Yes we did have business skills having worked as accountants and management consultants and had our own consultancy practice for twenty plus years. Learning online business skills was brand new to us but we saw an opportunity and we knew that if we got more knowledge and skills we could turn it into a viable business.
This may be just the right time to gain that new knowledge or learn those new skills. Maybe you’ve even investigated doing that before but lack of TIME was what was holding you back
Marketing Your New Business
Now assuming you’ve got that idea and you’ve got the time then you will need to think about how you are going to market that business. There really are so many ways from free to paid marketing and now that you have time on your hands is a perfect opportunity to learn how to use social media for your business and practice using it.
Creating Content For Your New Business
What kind of content will you need to create to share your new business information with your prospects and customers. This is a great time to be developing this content in advance, things like articles, social media posts, newsletters, blog posts (like this)
Using Technology In Your New Business
While you are midst of this pandemic you are already finding how technology has created new ways to stay in touch with friends and family. It’s also the same technology we use in business (skype, zoom, FaceTime etc) If you have kids at home you are home schooling you can see how they are using these technologies for their lessons and for fun! You should use this time you have not to learn about them so you can reach potential clients in the future
Build a Website
These days, it is difficult to run a business without having a web presence. Use the time you have to get yourself a domain for your business and install a simple wordpress website and start to build it out so it explains your products and services that you will be offering.
The Most Important Reason You Should Start A New Business Now
The most important reason you should start a new business now (speaking from experience) is the fact that all the economic measures that have been taken to help people survive this pandemic will inevitably lead to a global recession. During a World Health Organization press conference on Friday, Kristalina Georgieva, director of the International Monetary Fund, warned the economic fallout from coronavirus is already “way worse than the global financial crisis of 2008.”
- With over half the globe—roughly four billion people—currently on lockdown or under some form of stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic, the dive in business activity has created an economic crisis “like no other,” the IMF director warned on Friday.
- “Never in the history of the IMF have we witnessed the world economy come to a standstill,” Georgieva said. During the 2008 financial crisis, the global economy lost more than $2 trillion in value, a drop of nearly 4% from where it was before, according to Moody’s Analytics.
- She described the current crisis as “humanity’s darkest hour” in her lifetime, as it poses a “big threat to the whole world and it requires us to stand united.”
You can read the full article here on Forbes
The writing is on the wall!
There is a message that is being heard loud and clear around the web. It pretty much says you should be coming out of this pandemic chaos with a new skill, more knowledge and we hope after reading this you’ve started a new business or you’re fully intending to.
To conclude, you can map out your path, start a new business and make it happen or you can create reasons that it’s not possible…that you can’t do it.
You can go one way or you can go another way.
You get to choose
Can we finish with a recommendation?
The Single Most Importand Decision When Starting Your Business
One book we would highly recommend you read is from our mentor Ryan Levesque. It’s called Choose – The Single Most Importand Decision When Starting Your Business
It’s one of our favourites from our library and trust us it’s very well read and thumbed for a reason
While many factors can affect a business’s success, one central issue can doom it from the get-go: asking what instead of who. Who is the customer and why should they want your product? And most importantly: how can your business serve them? This is the foundation upon which all other aspects of the business should be built.
And let’s face it, even if you decide not to start a new business now you have the time to read it don’t you!
We’ll discuss different types or business in the next few articles so make sure to bookmark our website or set an RSS Feed to stay in the know
Stay safe, follow your Government’s guidelines and stay positive
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Until next time…
