The Last Global Financial Crisis Saw Many High-Profile Companies Start. Will COVID-19 Do the Same Now?
At the height of this current pandemic in March, American entrepreneur Shanel Fields wasnโt too worried about shutting down her business as she was getting ready to start her new one!
From her perspective, the timing couldnโt have been better as her company, MD Ally, allows emergency medical dispatchers and other first responders to route non-emergency calls and patients to virtual doctors, to help local governments improve their emergency response systems.
โSomething that a lot of people donโt know is that more than half of calls that go to the 911 emergency line are nonemergency,โ said Fields. โThose nonemergency calls overcrowd hospital emergency rooms and delay ambulances for everyone else.โ
But she also recognizes how crazy it must sound to start a business during an economic collapse. She knows that while sheโs hiring, many small businesses are worrying about whether theyโll ever reopen. Yet hereโs the thing, though. New businesses are forming in spite of the pandemic, though, unsurprising, at a slower rate than before.
Past downturns produced some high-profile global companies: Airbnb, Disney, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Slack, Uber, and Venmo, to name a few. Will it be the same this time? Well, some positive signs are already thereโฆ
Earlier in mid-March alone in the U.S., Bloomberg reported that there were more than 500,000 applications to set up new businesses there. Although that is down nearly 20 percent from a year before, no one needs a reminder that these are very unique times indeed!
So, whatโs driving some entrepreneurs to be so brave in such uncertain times then? Donโt tell me everyoneโs just relying on gut feeling? No way lahโฆ
Just like how the above companies were created coming out of the last recession, there will be many similarly innovative companies spawned from this coronavirus episode. Many talented people with careers on hold now might be re-examining what they really want out of life.
If youโre one of these people, perhaps you should identify whatโs holding you back from starting a business of your own right now. Letโs examine the reasons/excuses listed below.
โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐๐๐ก.โ
Starting any business is risky, so is thinking you work for a company that will take care of you and offer you employment for 30 years. Nothing in employment is guaranteed, you have to perform and get better at whatever you do or you will be replaced. Well, if thatโs the case, that sounds riskier than starting a company where the control is in your hands. Life is an adventure, working for someone else for 30 years is not.
โ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฃ๐ค ๐ง๐๐จ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐ ๐๐ช๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ.โ
Well, things like crowdfunding exist today where you can raise money through pre-sales of the product or even get investors. And other cloud-based services like Shopify for e-commerce will allow you to get up and running for very little money. So yes, there has never been a better time to start a company!
โ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐ช๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ฅ.โ
You can change that by joining other networks of entrepreneurs or adding more entrepreneurs to your network. The more you meet and learn from these people, the more normal it will seem to start your own companyโฆ
โ๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ ๐๐ช๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐ .โ
People already working hard to earn a liveable income think that starting a business requires double that effort, which they donโt want. Well, this is simply not true! Itโs not about how many hours you work but the quality of those hours. And if you are going to work hard anyway in your career, might as well work for yourself lah, right? Plus, when you work running your own company and itโs something you love, it wonโt feel like work lah, friend!
โ๐โ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ค๐ ๐จ๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐โ
All this while, at a minimum you have already been selling your talents, and perhaps even selling the products or services of the company that employs you. So, when you truly care about your company and your products or services, it will feel less like selling and more like helping people!
โ๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ .โ
There are people who cannot live with the downs and ups of running a business, and instead prefer the stability and security of a job and a regular paycheck. But unless you work for the government, there is no guarantee of jobs for life. Do you wonder why so many companies are starting in a recession? Itโs because people who get laid off start themโฆ.
