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Hypothesis: The New Entrepreneurianism
[Or, How many times can I adjust the meaning of a word by adding suffixes?]
Okay, here's an off-the-cuff theory looking for discussion. The recession is a horror, and is going to have some nasty cultural side-effects, but I am beginning to suspect that there may be a balancing factor. Commentators have talked a lot about the way that it makes people more risk-averse, afraid to take chances that might make life harder for them, and this is probably true. But on the flip side, I've noticed a fair number of people who are starting to take side jobs a lot more seriously than they used to -- things that might once have been viewed as spare-time projects are, necessarily, being treated as potential sources of income, and thus are being treated with a lot of care. More precisely, I'm pleased but slightly surprised by the degree of success that several of my friends are having with their personal side-jobs, largely because they're taking them very seriously *as* jobs.
So the theory is that we may get a small but non-trivial generation of new, more-experienced entrepreneurs of all sorts out of this: people who have learned to set up businesses more carefully, in an environment that doesn't have as much loose money and thus you can't be as careless about what you're doing.
Opinions?
Okay, here's an off-the-cuff theory looking for discussion. The recession is a horror, and is going to have some nasty cultural side-effects, but I am beginning to suspect that there may be a balancing factor. Commentators have talked a lot about the way that it makes people more risk-averse, afraid to take chances that might make life harder for them, and this is probably true. But on the flip side, I've noticed a fair number of people who are starting to take side jobs a lot more seriously than they used to -- things that might once have been viewed as spare-time projects are, necessarily, being treated as potential sources of income, and thus are being treated with a lot of care. More precisely, I'm pleased but slightly surprised by the degree of success that several of my friends are having with their personal side-jobs, largely because they're taking them very seriously *as* jobs.
So the theory is that we may get a small but non-trivial generation of new, more-experienced entrepreneurs of all sorts out of this: people who have learned to set up businesses more carefully, in an environment that doesn't have as much loose money and thus you can't be as careless about what you're doing.
Opinions?
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to start my wedding photography business.
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It will be interesting to see how it plays out in THIS iteration, since there is a decided bias in government toward existing/bigger businesses.
Robin's jam business is an interesting example - we'll be seeing how it plays out in real time. :-) Given the level of interest and success, it is hard to believe that it is not QUITE two months since we sold our first jar.
(Tomorrow we'll be at the Urban Ag Festival, next week Arlington Farmers Market and then The Big E, on two different days. We were specifically invited and encouraged by 3 separate organizations for the two Big E days and the Urban Ag...)
So far we are self-financing, but it's all small finance stuff. (Probably under $1,000 in equipment, $500 or so in jars, the rest in fruit and sugar. Unquantified marketing costs, but relatively small - and uncounted costs on mileage and such.) If we can make a dislocative leap into larger production, we will also have to consider investment more carefully.
There is no doubt, to my surprise, that Doves and Figs Kitchen will be profitable this year: ramen-profitable, but still... We're selling as fast as we can make - and we are making ALL THE TIME. :-) (We were up at 7:30 this morning, and we've been preparing product and cooking jam continuously since then.)
Of course, it helps that this is Robin's second business, and that she has in the past mentored others in creating businesses - and, in turn, we have friends who are mentoring us on business modeling and large scale financial planning.