Innovation during a recession? Seriously, you have got to be crazy, right?
Change your mindset. The economy is taking blows like a prizefighter. You have two choices, stay the course and cut yourself off from the world and hope your prepper skills are up to par or innovate and emerge even more substantial than you were before the recession hit.
During a recession, the status quo as it were is to be one of slow to a grinding halt and shelter in place. Save your money until this thing is over.
But according to a 2009 article in Entrepreneur magazine Bernard Meyerson, vice president and CTO of IBM’s systems and technology group, said, “Well you’re not going to save your way to greatness,” but you can innovate your way there.
So, stop moping around like you just lost your best friend, and heed some good advice. Remember how the country’s largest retailer responded to the big bang theory of the dotcom world of the early 2000s? Instead of the closing-up shop and sticking their respective heads in the sand, they ramped up the madness! They made sure their consumers knew they were still there and still just as crazy as ever!
Still not convinced? Then let’s break it down into 3, bite-sized chunks that not only make sense but may even stir that entrepreneurial spirit up enough for you to take action!
With every great business idea, you should have a great looking logo design. There are many routes you can go to when you are searching for a logo designer. You can hire a graphic designer, or you can make your logo using online logo making tools, such as logomyway.com.
Take a Reality Check
Adopt a mindset to “love the low’s” and relish in the recession, but before you do, make sure that your core business is a strong and vibrant one. Once you can protect and ensure your core, then you have set the table for innovation.
Do Not Go It Alone
There seems to be some seductive reasoning behind being innovative. You know the lone genius who came up with the idea of the century, then built it from his underground bunker. Surround yourself with like minds, then collect your wisdom together and come up with better results than you would if thinking out loud all by yourself.
In the same article mentioned above, another IBM vice-president, Edward Bevan, said to “gather up a group of diverse thinkers,” to create a “public commons of ideas.”
Meanwhile, there are numerous tools available on the web for ultimate collaboration., such as brainreactions.net, mindmeister.com, bubbl.us, mindjet.com, shareyourbrain.com, trendwatching.com, and iconculture.com, these are used by some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs of our time.
Play to Your Strengths
A good old fashion recession is just what an entrepreneur needs to nurture and harvest a long list of followers. The big companies that sometimes appear to be contributing to a community will be distracted during a downturn in the economy. But when the economy recovers, that community will go after that particular brand that you so successfully promoted in that recession. And it will be easy because you already own that audience, and that gives you superhero power leverage!
The takeaway from this is straightforward: enhance what you are good at.
You can also start-up a few niche businesses when the economy tanks. Just like going to the doctor when you are sick, there are a couple of people that kind of play the role of doctor during a recession.
An accountant, for instance. People seem to be more at ease about hard money times when they have an accountant to turn to. Some accountants thrive in the face of economic hardship if nothing more than playing the role of someone’s shoulder to cry on.
Become a distributor of bulk foods. When times are tough, play to the “prepper” crowd. People often buy in bulk to save money on items they need anyway. The more they buy, the cheaper it is, so the good idea is to supply bulk food to the bulk consumers.
Another good business to consider would be a resume’ writing service. Many people, especially those who are looking for or are forced into a career change, may need to brush-up that resume before taking it on a job search. Maybe they have more skills than before and a nice new resume, and cover letter is just what they need.
One of the more recent jobs, thanks to the digital age, is that of a virtual assistant. This job did not even exist a decade ago. But, when the economy goes belly-up, some companies start outsourcing as much work as possible to cut down on costs.
A virtual assistant can serve as an administrative assistant to CEOs, entrepreneurs, or even an entire business. You can employ the service of a virtual assistant a lot cheaper than you can employ one as an in-house assistant, and it is recession-proof!
As we face these uncertain times due to the Coronavirus, it may go without saying that now would be a good time to implement some of these strategies or business ideas. More people now than at any other time in history are working from home, and there has been a sharp incline in what is known as the “gig economy.” Gigs are the jobs that are performed by people that are identified as freelancers, and according to recent reports, the gig economy is up somewhere over 40 percent.
And who knows, maybe with the freelancers gaining in popularity there will eventually be a need for more job finding services, health insurance, and tax advisors. All of these businesses would be prosperous for the savvy entrepreneur to address.
The new tax laws offer discounted rates for pass-through type business’ such as freelancing, and that might further accelerate the move toward contingent labor, and that alone can affect business development furthermore,
There may not be any way that you can avoid being touched by a recession, but the good news is you are not isolated. Having the attitude that “we are all in this thing together” goes a long way.
