It’s been an interesting year…
2020 began full of hope and promise. But the optimism that accompanied the new decade quickly faded as the world came face to face with a series of health, political, economic, and social challenges the likes which we have not seen in generations.
Times are tough. And for many, instincts are telling them to hunker down and wait out the storm. But there’s another option. One that allows you to take control of a seemingly uncontrollable situation.
Entrepreneurship.
For anyone out there that’s ever wanted to run their own business, now is the perfect time to start. Entrepreneurship brings hope, creates opportunity, insulates you from uncertainty, and like a desert cactus, thrives in harshest of conditions. Conditions like the ones we’re facing today.
Timing plays a major role in launching any successful business. Let’s explore the reasons why now is the time to start yours.
Entrepreneurship Creates Hope
One of the most difficult parts of 2020 has been the endless stream of negativity. News cycles and social media feeds have been dominated by stories of death and despair. And the more we consume these stories, the more we internalize these feelings, to the point where we feel like everything is hopeless.
But entrepreneurs can inoculate themselves from this negativity. Because entrepreneurship is all about hope. It’s taking a leap of faith, and trusting in yourself and those around you to create something out of nothing. By starting your own business, you’re taking control of your own circumstances and destiny.
Launching a business is exciting! And this excitement will bleed into every corner of your life, to the point where no amount of new negativity can keep you down. Just by taking that first step towards building your new business, you’ll be able to drastically change the way you feel about the world today.
Entrepreneurship Gives You Control
One of the biggest stories of the pandemic has been unemployment. In the first five weeks following country-wide shutdowns (March 21 — April 25), the U.S. experienced 30.3 million new unemployment claims. That’s roughly 20% of the entire working population in the country.
A recent study conducted by Yelp shows an astonishing 60% of restaurants on the platform closing permanently due to losses suffered over the course of COVID-19 shutdowns. Meaning that these high employment numbers are here to stay, and the job market is going to be incredibly competitive for years to come.
That is, unless you’re an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs bypass the competitive job markets, focusing instead on hiring themselves. No resumes. No job boards. No interviews. Just a belief in their own ability to bring value to the world, and in the process, create an income stream for themselves and their families.
Entrepreneurship Is the Ultimate Way to Upskill
Even before the pandemic, “upskilling” was one of the hottest buzz words in business.
Upskilling is the process of learning new tools and technologies that allow you to succeed in evolving industries. And there is no better way to upskill than by becoming an entrepreneur.
At its core, being an entrepreneur means being willing and able to learn. Every day you run a business is a new day where you are asked to do a task or solve a problem you’ve never experienced before. Accounting, product development, sales, customer discovery, public speaking, networking, and so much more — choosing to become an entrepreneur is choosing to add many different tools to your toolbox, all at lightning-fast speeds.
Even if you start a business that ultimately fails, as an entrepreneur you still end up succeeding, because you walk away with an entirely new set of skills. Skills you can put towards your next business, or skills that will make you a much more attractive hire if you choose to return to work as an employee for someone else.
Global Disruptions Mean Global Opportunity
Have you ever considered the amount of force it takes to change human behavior?
While we all want to believe that we are in total control over our decisions, we are actually driven largely by habits and routines. Ones that, once set, are incredibly difficult to change. For most of us, it takes a massive outside force — the proverbial “wake-up call” — to change our behavior.
Right now, billions of consumers across the globe are experiencing a wake-up call. Whether it’s related to their health, their safety, their values, their beliefs, their families, or their way of life, the global disruptions caused by COVID-19 means nearly every individual on the face of the planet is being forced to change their behavior.
And these changes are creating massive new opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Zoom was a niche videoconferencing software company with 10 million daily global users in December of 2019. By April of 2020, they had over 300 million people using the platform every single day. Instacart lost $300 million in 2019. But in April alone, the company posted a profit of $10 million thanks to a 500% order growth. And it’s not just major tech platforms that are experiencing record sales in the midst of this pandemic. Shopify, an ecommerce platform and payment provider that allows small businesses to run online stores, is seeing record growth as well, with a 62% increase in new virtual storefronts opened by entrepreneurs between March 13 and April 24.
All of this to say that new opportunities are plentiful. The changes in consumer habits and shopping patterns brought on by COVID-19 mean that there are plenty of chances for new businesses to insert themselves into the lives of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people across the globe. You just need to get out there and started.
Why Now is the Perfect Time to Start Your Business
Every generation has their defining moment. A period where all the pieces came together, and amazing innovations and progress are made.
If you look back at history, these defining moments tend to follow periods of great darkness. The Roaring 20’s followed the Great War. The rise of the Middle Class and the American Dream came only after the end of WWII. The transcontinental railroad, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, and the great industrial boom of the United States all exploded on the heels of the Civil War. And even Sir Isaac Newton’s famous witnessing of the apple falling from the tree took place while he was quarantining at home during an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
Though times may be tough right now, history has proven again and again that the light at the end of this tunnel will shine brighter than we could ever possibly imagine. Which is why now is the perfect time to invest in yourself, pursue those entrepreneurial dreams, and start your business.
Thanks for reading! Before you go, if you’d like to follow along as I start my new business, a community for the growing non alcoholic beer, wine, and sprits community, be sure to visit YOURS.
