I bought my first home in the late 1970s. At that time home loans were 15 percent, 10 percent unemployment, a 10 percent inflation rate, and a 20 percent primerate.
What the hell was I thinking?
Thankfully I got a GI Loan and only ended up paying 11 percent on myloan
Those just happened to be the economic conditions of the time. We thought wed seen the last of 56 percent home loans or full employment.
Talk about a lousy time to start a small business but peopledid.
Tough Times Dont Last; Tough PeopleDo
As we quickly learned over the following ten years or so conditions change over time. So, its safe to assume that businesses that started during those tough times were much stronger ten years later having gone through those same toughtimes.
Imagine what it must have been like starting during the 1929 depression?
What if Henry Ford, Carnegie, Edison, Proctor and Gamble, US Steel, Standard Oil, and others had decided to wait for things to getbetter?
Where would we betoday?
Entrepreneurs Are RiskTakers
Thats the problem with risk. Its always going to be there. Bad things happen to goodpeople.
No business owner saw Covid coming so they opened a new business. Covid might have killed that businessdream.
Hundreds of restaurants were forced to close their doors in New York and other metropolitan areas thanks to shutdowns and mandates from local officials and the government.
There Are No Guarantees in Business or InLife
As much as we would like to think were secure in our future either in business or in life there are no guarantees ineither.
Economic changes, natural disasters, changes in buying habits new products or innovation can bring any business to itsknees.
The music eight track gave way to cassettes which gave way to CDs which gave way to internet downloads.
CB radios were replaced with cell phones. People in their 20s are making $6,000 a month on YouTube andTik-Tok.
Some FinalThoughts
Why start a business when climate change is going to end the human race in 12 years as some have predicted?
Thats a half empty glass as far as Im concerned. I have confidence that the same people who emerged during the depression and changed the world will have no problem with whatever challenges we face in thefuture.
So put your mind at ease and move forward with your business idea. If you dont someone elsewill.
As the famous frontiersman and statesman Davy Crockett said, First be sure youre right; then goahead.
Take a look at Tom Egelhoffs Amazon Best Selling Small Business book, How to Market, Advertise and Promote Your Business or Service in Your Own Backyard.
Subscribe to Toms New YouTube Channel??The Art of Learning Small TownBusiness
Listen in on Toms weekly Saturday radio show 8 am to 11am Mountain Time Open For Business on AM 1450 KMMS Radio, Bozeman. Go to kmmsam.com and Click Listen NOW. You can call the show or textTom.
Theres Never Been a Better Time to Start a New Business Than Today was originally published in Startup Stash on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
