5 Steps to Starting Your Own Business During a Recession |

5 Steps to Starting Your Own Business During a Recession

It’s bad enough that the unemployment rate is over 10 percent, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that your dreams of having your own business have to be washed down the drain. The following are five steps that you can take to starting your own business during an unfriendly economy:

Hang on to that Day Job! For those of you who are fortunate enough to still have a job during regular business hours and have always dreamed of “being your own boss,” don’t submit your resignation just yet. Rather, it’s better to take a safer approach by testing out business ideas and coming up with a business plan in your off-hours when you’re not working. By doing this, you can continue to eek out an existence while you brainstorm.
Who Needs an Office? Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to get in your car and sit in rush hour traffic for an hour just to get to a physical office. Instead, many smart business owners are discovering that they can run a much more profitable business venture right from the comfort of their own homes. In this day and age where everything is run off of the Internet, you’d be silly to waste all of that money renting out an office space and paying for extra utilities. Instead, turn that second bedroom in your home or apartment into an office area and then write it off on your taxes!
Use Free resources. Your local library contains numerous useful references regarding incorporation, writing business plans, marketing, as well as information specific to your industry. The Small Business Association, Chambers of Commerce, AMEX Small Business website, associations for your industry, associations by ethnicity…all of these offer training, materials, networking and sometimes financing. Another good option is SCORE, a group of retired executives who provide business start-up advice. [source]
Find Dependable Employees! Whether you’re flying solo on your first business venture or if you’re bringing a business partner and/or employees on board for the ride, make sure that you look for people who are RELIABLE. Sure, the success of any company is due to the person who manages/runs it; but the real success comes from the people who work within the company. Treat your employees well, and you’ll almost never be disappointed.
Figure out a Marketing Plan! With the overabundance of social media, social networking and other, significantly cheaper forms of marketing, there is certainly no shortage of ways for you to market your company- and the best news is that it won’t have to cost you a fortune to do it!