Starting A Business During Covid-19
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” -Jack Welch
Hello and welcome to all of you future successful entrepreneurs out there! These are exciting times with endless upside potential to do what you love and pay it forward. Maybe you lost your job or got furloughed during the pandemic. Or maybe you are just sick and tired of going to work for a paycheck without any job satisfaction. Or are you simply ready to change your life and do what you love every day and get rewarded for it? We all have our reasons but most of us are driven by some combination of income potential, lifestyle change, the opportunity of self-expression, passion, personal interests, or a killer idea. Is right now the right time to open a business?
Recessions provide different opportunities for entrepreneurs who have ideas on goods and services that may help people adapt to a changing world. For instance look at Airbnb in 2007 during the Great Recession when designers Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia couldn’t afford the rent on their San Francisco apartment. To make ends meet, they decided to turn their loft into a lodging space, but, as Gebbia explains:
“We didn’t want to post on Craigslist because we felt it was too impersonal. Our entrepreneur instinct said ‘build your own site.’ So we did.”
This revolutionary found initial traction in SF during the DNC when all hotels were booked.
You may have heard of the story that two friends found themselves stuck in Paris on a snowy evening, unable to find a taxi. They asked themselves: “What if you could request a ride simply by tapping your phone?” This thought process led to a company first launched in 2009 we have come to know as Uber, and has been growing ever since.
Warby Parker’s website says it best:
“Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty objective: to offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.”
Warby Parker pulled back the curtain on the start of their business and how they continue to grow as seen in this excerpt from their site:
“Every idea starts with a problem. Ours was simple: glasses are too expensive. We were students when one of us lost his glasses on a backpacking trip. The cost of replacing them was so high that he spent the first semester of grad school without them, squinting and complaining. (We don’t recommend this.) The rest of us had similar experiences, and we were amazed at how hard it was to find a pair of great frames that didn’t leave our wallets bare. Where were the options?
It turns out there was a simple explanation. The eyewear industry is dominated by a single company that has been able to keep prices artificially high while reaping huge profits from consumers who have no other options. We started Warby Parker to create an alternative. By circumventing traditional channels, designing glasses in-house, and engaging with customers directly, we’re able to provide higher-quality, better-looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the going price.
We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket. We also believe that everyone has the right to see.
Almost one billion people worldwide lack access to glasses, which means that 15% of the world’s population cannot effectively learn or work. To help address this problem, Warby Parker partners with nonprofits like VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need.
There’s nothing complicated about it. Good eyewear, good outcome.”
These three successful companies started during and because of a downturn in the economy. The COVID-19 pandemic will not be any different: It's another opportunity to turn hardship into opportunities. Determining what customers need now is crucial.
The good news is that new businesses are forming despite the pandemic, even if it’s at a significantly slower rate than before.
According to the Census Bureau, there have been over 500,000 applications for employer identification numbers since mid-March, although that is down nearly 20 percent from a year ago. Between mid-March and mid-April, the Small Business Administration issued nearly 300 start-up loans worth about $153 million, a 36 percent drop from a year earlier. While growth has declined in the past year it is obvious that opportunity is there to succeed and grow in your business endeavors. Stripe, the credit card processing firm, said it had handled more than $1 billion in sales for businesses that started on the platform during that time.
There’s no better time to start your journey than NOW!
I have always been an advocate of small business which makes up 99.9% of US employer firms. Approximately half of the US private sector workforce is employed by small businesses, according to the SBA. As a small business owner with a passion and the experience to help other entrepreneurs, I am your cheerleader and advisor who will help you navigate your journey into small business ownership.
In 2004, I started my bookkeeping practice in Jenkintown, PA. I started it out of frustration, with pride and an “I can do it attitude”. I had a CPA license but let it lapse for many years while raising my three boys for 11 years (yeah, imagine that these days). When I was ready to re-enter the job market, no one was willing to hire me for what I thought I was worth. I missed the tech bubble in the ’90s and lost so much ground (Lesson 1 - stay in the game as best you can). After working for others to get my feet wet, I knew that I had something valuable to offer and was supercharged about getting involved with my small business community. I did my homework (stay tuned), got marketing literature, bought a booth at the Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, and got my first client. I didn’t make much money back in those days but since then I have added services, built relationships, and have grown my practice.
I invite you to stay with me and my upcoming blogs about starting YOUR business. We will unpack the critical issues and answer the questions that I get asked most. You are gonna be great!!!
References:
https://www.warbyparker.com/history
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/business/coronavirus-small-business-startup.html