I was watching NBC News on TV tonight with Brian Williams. I believe it said that 82% of Americans believe the economy is bad right now. And the price of gas isn't helping the general or worldwide economy either.
However, just like during the early 1980s when unemployment in the U.S. was 10% and even though it just went up from 8.8% to 9% because of people who have been out of work a long time trying to find jobs once again, opportunities abound in all times. You just have to be looking for them.
I first owned my own business at age 29 or 30. I had always known I wasn't really suited to be a long term employee of anyone, unless it was possibly a relative. So, in times like the early 1980s and now when there aren't enough jobs there is always the opportunity of starting a full or part time business for yourself.
For example, right now there are more new business start-ups in the U.S. than any time in the last 15 years. This is a very good sign for the future because most of all hiring in the U.S. is done by businesses hiring under 100 employees nationwide. So, either creating your own start-up or joining one is a very good idea right now. Yes, it is true that many start-up businesses fail within 2 to 5 years. However, new businesses can show a loss for about 5 consecutive years in regard to Federal Taxes and still be a viable business. So, for some people this is a way to try and to still get the tax right-offs from trying to start a business.
And many people will say, "I don't have capital to start a business and no bank will loan me enough money. To people like this I would say, "It really doesn't take much money to start many many businesses. You might be trying to start the wrong kind of business during these times when borrowing money from banks is difficult. Also, there is internet micro-banking where co-op groups get together on line and loan $25 to $5000 dollars in groups of people financing businesses. My sons best friend just raised money to go to Libya as a video documentarian in this way. Many U.S. Libyans bought into his journey in return for his photos, videos, and daily journals of what he found there. So they could sort of "Be present" in their native country through all this.
So, there are many innovative ways to raise money for business ventures. For example, in the first business that I was a partner in when I was 25, I was a business partner but only a working partner. In that business there were investor partners and working partners. So, during the first part of the business I was only given basic living expenses by the investor partners until the business hopefully turned a profit. So, as a working partner I was not making wages but only my food and gas and shelter was paid for until the business hopefully became successful. I had a new wife and baby at the time and it was 1975 and the economy was in a fairly difficult time then as well. However, the price of gold had risen from a controlled $32 dollars and ounce and my uncle needed a tax shelter for his gold bullion business and so started a mining business to shelter his incredibly increasing assets while investing in potentially future profits. So I got a friend of mine who was an architect who had graduated from Cal Poly and myself and my wife and baby and we stayed in the desert for about a year refurbishing a Mining mill in 29 Palms and mining in that area and essaying in Gila Bend in Arizona during that time. My father, was also a weekend working partner. So after working at his job as a union electrician in San Diego during the week, he would come out and supervise my friend and I who were refurbishing a mining mill in 29 Palms. After a year or two of refurbishing and mining we realized that the business couldn't compete with the Gold Cartels in the U.S. and that we couldn't get our gold properly refined in the last stage because people were not being honest with us so my father and I sold our interests in the business and got out because we were only practical and pragmatic and not thinking as investors but rather as engineers and builders. Since my father and I had worked together in his Electrical Contracting Business in Los Angeles during the 1960s (during the summers) while I was only 12 to 17 years old we looked at things in a very practical and hands on kind of way. So, even though we realized we had to get out of this business it taught me a lot about how businesses operate and some of the problems involved in running any business by being a working partner of this business.
So, when I started my own first business in 1978 when I turned 30 I had already learned a great deal about how one has to (wear many hats) and how incredibly difficult this is in real life. I meet very few people who can successfully pull this off before ages 25 or 30. However, if you are even 18 with a business mentor like a father or mother or uncle or someone you trust you might be successful running a business younger than 25 as long as you are very careful. The important thing is that someone at the top of this business or as an adviser to this business must have some business experience and hopefully in the direction of the business you are trying to start.
So, in the end you don't need a whole lot of money to start many if not most businesses. STephen Jobs and STeve Wozniak started their business in a home garage and both of them had long hair and beards at the time (even though Jobs sheared everything off in order to get a bank loan eventually). So, I guess what I'm saying is even if you only have a garage of your parents or a friend, or even an extra room in your home, sometimes that is all you need to start a business that can grow over the years into something really amazing that you can be proud of. So, starting a business part time is a feasible thing to do at home even if you are presently working part time in a fast food type of environment. It's a whole lot better than giving up hope for your life and future.
Another thing, business people who eventually succeed usually fail more than once. This is another reason not to have too much money invested in any one enterprise because you might need to fail one or more times before you get all the details and strategies right for a successful business. If you do all your research about what people really want first and second do the research about who your competition is and third realize that if you don't want a really big corporation to compete with you your gross has to be below $250,000 a year.
All these things you have to know before you invest too much time, money or energy. Because in the end being practical about all the details will decide whether you are successful or not. And remember sometimes good business climates can change on a dime to something else. So always be adaptable if you want to economically survive these times.
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