Sadly the doomsayers are getting their way and the economy is now clearly and demonstrably slowing down. Businesses are feeling the pinch, getting into trouble and in some cases shutting down. The latest figures from Equifax show a 59% rise in business failures last month compared to July 2007. It’s going to be a tough time for a lot of business owners, many of whom have never really experienced a serious slowdown let alone a recession.
Strangely, entrepreneurs just don’t seem to be noticing the negative headlines, or indeed the hard data that points to tough trading conditions. They just plough ahead with their plans anyway – where there’s a will there’s a way. Do they succeed? It rather depends on your definition, entrepreneurs never seem to say they’ve failed do they?
But this approach isn’t just lunacy, in fact it can be highly rewarding. Businesses formed in hard times are often better than those founded in good ones. They are leaner, tougher and more adaptable than other companies. Also there are benefits of starting up at this time. Costs can be lowered and competitors could be in disarray. So make way for the lunatics, they have businesses to run.
