Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello, My wife and I are looking to start our own small business. However, my question is, is now a bad time? Do you think the economy will get better or worse within the next few years? Any advice helps, thanks.
You may want to post this in the business subforum here.
As to whether or not this is a good time is the 64K question.
Location, type of business, customer base.
A good number of factors come into play and need to be studied before you take the leap.
One can't make a blanket statement whether or not this is a good time or bad time.
The answer is different for everyone.
DO NOT attempt to start a business you are not passionate about, and remember it will likely take 5 yrs of 24x7 off your life, so be sure it is a worthwhile endeavor.
Look, heres the facts. Forget wondering about the economy. Its better to have a realistic point of view on the economy and where the trends are. Everywhere in the world people are constantly buying and selling goods/services. What you need to do is focus on finding some product or service that people are willing to buy and give you a profit at the same time. I would strongly suggest thinking on a, "global" basis. Even if the American economy is in the pits it doesn't mean the entire world economy is. China and India are growing fast and every Fortune 500 company is literally jockeying to find new customers in those economies. In fact, for most f500 companies, thats where their revenue growth is coming from.
Also the American economy is still gigantic - 14 trillion GDP. Do you know how much is estimated to be spent on x-mas in the USA? 450$ BILLION. Thats alot of money to be made buddy. If you don't have some good or service to sell, you better start thinking of something. Preferably you want something that doesn't require your DIRECT labor to produce.
It doesn't make a bit of difference what the economy is like. Do you have customers? Could you sell them something today with a product you have ready to do, whether it be a physical product or a service? A bad economy with only effect you on the margins, maybe taking away 5-10% of your revenue potential. If your business can't survive without that level of revenue you'd have a hard time making it in a good economy as well.
Bad times are often great opportunities to start small businesses because you can source better talent due to higher unemployment and you can get cheaper financing (if you can find it and qualify for it) because interest rates are low. They are poor times to start because you get more competition from desperate competitors and a lot more unemployed people who are starting up their own companies. Balance it out and figure out which is more applicable to your situation.
DO NOT attempt to start a business you are not passionate about, and remember it will likely take 5 yrs of 24x7 off your life, so be sure it is a worthwhile endeavor.
It doesn't matter. If its a good business it is good for the time period in which you are considering it. Read SR's post again. He has it right.
Would this be a good time to start a home building business - probably not. Would this be a good time to start foreclosed property maintenance business - probably. Ever problem is also an opportunity for the person on the other side of the issue. That's why George Soros has all the money.
Recessions are often the best time to start a business, essentially if you come in towards the bottom of the recession. Your competitors are often hurting, the market is changing and even with slow economic growth you will be able to ride the wave.
Also, to what degree future problems in the economy hurt you is largely a measure of how leveraged you are, I would not suggest starting a highly leveraged business right now.
It doesn't matter. If its a good business it is good for the time period in which you are considering it. Read SR's post again. He has it right.
Would this be a good time to start a home building business - probably not. Would this be a good time to start foreclosed property maintenance business - probably. Ever problem is also an opportunity for the person on the other side of the issue. That's why George Soros has all the money.
I know someone who started a home building business recently. All in the places most people would say make no sense. Las Vegas and Phoenix are the easiest places to start building on because you can buy the land for virtually nothing, find tons of contractors putting in bids at incredibly low price points and there are still some buyers out there who are looking for something new and custom and don't want to deal with the wild foreclosure marketplace. He's not trying to become the next huge homebuilder, but if he can sell 5 houses a month he's going to make a lot of money with little risk.
Good small business people know what they are doing, research the market correctly and then have faith in what they will do. When someone says "I want to start a business" that is almost a worthless statement because its usually just someone who is either out of work or tired of working for the "man". When someone says I want to start XXX business, serving XXX market with products in the XXX-XXX price range...that's a potential success story.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
