Chad M
Chief Economist & Director of Economic Research at U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
With ever-increasing unmployment, we would expect more "necessity" entrepreneurship taking place. Do you plan to start your own business this year? If so, in what industries and what do you think are the prospects?
Chad Moutray is the chief economist and director of economic research at the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy. He will summarize the responses to this question on his personal blog, http://moutray.wordpress.com, later in the week.
Answers (8)
Erin B
Community Manager at Sprouter, a brand-new online collaboration tool for entrepreneurs
Hi Chad,
As the community manager at an online community for entrepreneurs (RedWire) I meet a lot of people who own their own business and have for at least a few months. But I have heard a lot of buzz about the number of people being urged to start their own businesses - see the following article for more about how Canadian professionals are starting their own businesses to combat the recession. http://bit.ly/i42
Hope that helps, and I will certainly pass along any other stories I hear.
Cheers,
Erin
Links:
Hi Chad,
I'm in the process of starting an online dating site. Even in this economy, at least in the US, online dating has increased not decreased. This is probably due to the fact that people aren't going out as much, and it's cheaper and more efficient to narrow down the dating pool online or via phone, as opposed to spending money on dates or at bars that have a lower chance of success.
We will be launching DatingRevolution.com in the next month or two, and it will provide a higher level of sophistication than its competition. It's designed to fill a void between the higher priced sites like Match.com and eHarmony, and free sites like PlentyofFish.
Each of these sites have distinct issues, and Dating Revolution, founded to return Power to the Daters (TM), is designed to ease or eliminate the pain points associated with online dating.
I look forward to reading your posting.
Sincerely
Ross Felix
Founder, Dating Revolution
Absolutely. Having just a few extra dollars coming in from my side endeavors makes a difference in my quality of life. Having those endeavors become my sole income creates another paradigm.
The concern lies with those individuals who cannot find marketable skills within themselves. Those individuals might consider criminal activity to be necessity entrepreneurship.
I think the talent pool of those being laid off or in danger there of is enormous.
Personally I think this is a great future for a lot of Americans. The question is will government get out of the way?
Yeah, I think unemployment will cause more entrepreneurship, but not necessarily highly successful entrepreneurship. Loans are harder to come by and people forced out of a job won't necessarily start a great company, but will probably be more in survival mode.
Links:
Mark D
Management Consultant, Outsourcing Specialist, Writer
Best Answers in: Offshoring and Outsourcing (1)
I published two articles on this exact topic -- one several weeks ago as part of a new series on continuous organizational innovation (COI) and another that will come out this week on "2009, the Year of the Micro-Business."
Here are the links if anyone is interested: Frugal Innovation --> http://www.mortgagebankers.org/tools/FullStory.aspx?ArticleId=290#full
The other will be released in a publication later this week, but an early version of the Micro-Business projection is available at: http://innovative-relevance.com/wordpress/
Links:
I think it is inevitable that many skilled professionals will strike out on their own both by necessity and choice. Large 21st century firms must reduce headcount and improve nimbleness which makes outsourcing functions to small businesses a smart decision. At the same time, many skilled professionals are out of work and, to some extent, have seen a glimpse of a different work/life balance that large corporations can’t afford to offer. This combination will leave a lot of opportunities for professionals who can successfully marry skills, needs and business planning functionality. I started my business, Synthenai (www.synthenai.com) to give small businesses the opportunity for consulting services at affordable prices. I specialize in the business of business. The danger that many of these entrepreneurs face is that they have never run a business before. I’ve worked with many clients who are very good at what they do, but have never performed vital business functions such as financial modeling, budgeting, compliance activities, license applications, operation flows, hiring, marketing and infrastructure development. I believe a good idea coupled with the right business foundations can lead to success.
Kenneth L
Founder, "Small To Feds"
Best Answers in: Government Contracts (9), Government Services (5), Business Plans (5), Small Business (5), Starting Up (5), Government Policy (3), Project Management (3), Using LinkedIn (3), Organizational Development (2), Budgeting (1), Public Funding (1), Risk Management (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Direct Marketing (1), Business Development (1), Change Management (1), Incorporation (1)
The future of this country lies in a small business base of high technology, creative thinking and good communication and teamwork among synergistic enterprises in such fields as energy, environmental quality, communications, information technology, medical services and high performing non-profit organizations.
The US will come home from military adventures abroad because it will no longer have the money to run them and it will cease bailing out failing commercial establishments because there will be no funding for that.
The US will re-align priorities at the state and the national level much like all the little "Joe the Plumbers" throughout the country, who are toting skinny 401K's without jobs. They represent the present and future tax base upon which this country will run.
Our country will not spend its way out of this dilemma because there will be no cash or credit left to spend.
The US will demonstrate financial prudence out of necessity, align spending with available revenue, downsize the federal government and its corporate cadre, cultivate technology and the small business base and take care of its most important constituent here at home - the average tax payer.
