Entrepreneurs: Defying Gravity
Jeremy Hanks, Co-Founder and President, DOBA.com
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or in a cave or in Evanston, you understand that the world seems to be heading to that place a handbasket inevitably carries you.
Mortgage meltdowns. Credit crises. Economic disasters. Unemployment. Wealth vaporization. Massive market declines. Recession. It’s not pretty. Most of us haven’t seen macroeconomic times this troublesome at any point in our lives, even those of you reading this that are a bit longer in years. And our government’s answers make it sound even worse: Troubled Assets Relief Program. American Recovery and Investment Act. Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan.
There’s a lot of F.U.D. out there right now. Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt.
So…What does all this mean for entrepreneurs? My answer? Not a damn thing.
Being an entrepreneur is an uphill battle in good times or in bad. The steepness of the hill really isn’t that different between the two. As an entrepreneur, you have to focus on things you can control. You can never control the macro, high-level conditions. Credit tight? Credit easy? Can’t control it either way. So since you can’t control things whether for you or against you, you should ignore them. Completely ignore them. You may have to adjust your plans, but don’t lose sleep over things out of the realm of your influence.
Some of the greatest companies were started at times of extreme economic turmoil. IBM, the world’s largest computer company, was started in the midst of 1896 massive corporate greed scandals. UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, was started with $100 of capital during the 1907 stock crash. HP, the largest technology company in the world, was started in 1938 during a deep recession with $538 in capital out of a garage. Microsoft was started by Bill Gates, arguably the world’s best known entrepreneur, in 1975 in a motel room in Albuquerque during the stagflation of the 70’s, and then later had to deal with the 1981 recession. Disney, the largest media and entertainment corporation in the world, was started during the recession of 1923 (a precursor to the Great Depression) after Walt Disney failed with his first attempt at an animation business and declared personal bankruptcy.
Entrepreneurs have to defy gravity. In good times and bad. And it sure looks to me like some of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time were those that didn’t let bad times keep them from being great. Maybe the notion that when the times get tough, the tough get going, isn’t so cliche. So if you’ve got an idea for a solution to a problem that needs solving or that will make the world a better place, what are you waiting for? Let’s get to it, there seem to be more problems now than ever.
Jeremy Hanks is Cofounder and President of Doba, an Orem based software company. You can read more at his Adventures in Entrepreneurship blog at www.jeremyhanks.com
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