An intriguing summary as to why the bad economy is the best time to start a business.
As Warren Buffett's golden rule states clearly, when other people fears, you should be brave!
Similarly, when the rest invest enthuisastically, you should stay behind and look at the bigger picture which many of them missed.
The point here is that you should never be beguiled by the unsustainable hype for they are merely distractions that will obfuscate your judgement.
In the book Good to Great, there are 11 companies which have showned great tenacity throughout their endeavour in the corporate world.
It has been proven time and again that none of them were simply riding on the galvanized forces of the economy.
When we look at the industry per se, we realised that the company was de facto in an emasculated industry rather than a bullish one.
i.e. Kimberly Clark boomed when the paper-industry was bearish and now it is making big bucks from Huggies
i.e. Nucor boomed when the steel industry was in depression and now it is one of the most renowned steel company in the entire world.
i.e. Kroger boomed when supermarkets were becoming a low-profit business and now you see thousands of its branches everywhere
i.e. Walgreen boomed despite there being a sudden surge in the number of competitors in the pharmaceutical business and now they are actually ubiquitous at every corner of the shopping malls you visit.
Nonetheless, starting a business in a bad economy is merely a perfunctory and vague point. What is more interesting is that behind all these, you need a leader, a great leader so to speak.
Without a great leader, it will be paltry even if you have the best company in your hands. Look at the cute picture above, the leader will go up first and take a peek at what's in front before he helped his team up. We all progress as a team and thus everyone's opinions is precious. It is fatuous to dismiss any one of them at any one point in time.
It is imperative to have a great leader that is neither an authoritarian nor a pharoah, but a relentless yet humble leader who involves everyone in the company, including the customers.
Afterall, the market forces are against you right now so you will definitely need your companions with you to pull through this dire period.
Teamwork!
At the end of the day, it's a matter of First Who... Then what.
If you decide on a destination first, only people who are agreeing with that destination will get on board. The bad thing is that if you decide to change a destination along the way, they will alight from your bus.
However, if you pick the people who are willing to join you, they will follow you and support you with all their might regardless of the destination. Afterall, they believe that they are on board because of the team, not the destination. When everyone works together, they will succeed eventually.
In conclusion, it is no doubt a strategic move to start a business in a bad economy, but it is a lot harder to gather the right people to push your business ahead in this beleaguered economy.
You need relentless consistency and strong tenacity in order to succeed. That is why so many companies steer away from investments in the bad economy, simply because they are afraid, afraid of failing.
Definitely not an easy feat to pull off.
Credits -techcrunch, -bolstablog, -freeuni, -brightscope, -mgcpuzzles
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