From redundancy to entrepreneurship
Chris Locke, CEO of Rainmaking and Startupbootcamp ASPIRE (https://rainmaking.io/)
Losing a job is ranked among the 10 most stressful life events that can cause profound harm including even lasting health issues. Searching for a new job is a full-time job on its own and is often a long, frustrating process that can take up to a year. Studies found that after a redundancy 26% of those searches end in a job with a lower salary.
However, when life gives you lemons, it’s time to make lemonade. Being laid off doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the world; it could be a much-needed wake-up call to follow your dreams and take charge of your own future. This could be the right time for you to start developing your passion and make a living out of it.
You may switch to providing your services on a freelance base, working with different clients. Or maybe you finally take that thing you have always been passionate about and turn it into a business. For example, you may turn your love of cooking into a catering business. No matter how small or how big your dream, being an entrepreneur is an option for everyone.
Have you always had this business idea that you never had time to validate? This could be your chance to develop it and convert it into your new primary source of revenue and security.
While challenging, running your own business definitely comes with tons of perks. First, and most important thing, you will be working on something you love and passionate about, which will continuously give you a sense of accomplishment. You will be finally free to arrange your priorities and outcomes allowing you to be in charge of your own future, building a source of income for you and your family. Most importantly, instead of looking for another job, you can actually start creating jobs, contributing positively to the economy.
While it may sound counter-productive, recession times can be a time of great opportunity for those with the desire to start a new business; the market and customer needs are changing rapidly, and this can mean new business opportunities for entrepreneurs from freelancing careers to creating the next big thing.
All businesses start small and you’d be surprised who launched during tough times. For example, Microsoft was started during the oil embargo in 1973, CNN was launched during the 1980s American recession. The email software Mailchimp and Netflix were both launched during the dot com crisis. The great recession in 2007 was the motive behind creating lots of growth startups such as Uber, Airbnb, Square, and Groupon.
Becoming an entrepreneur is not for everyone, but for those that have the desire to start their own businesses and take a different direction for their future, this could be the time to make that leap. Being open to the market gaps generated by the recession could be your window for success or even finding a new angle to take advantage of the gig-economy.