by Teena Rose
Economic turmoil brings out entrepreneurial drive, showing job-seekers that when one road ends (job search),
there's always another road to be taken (business startup).
New businesses surface from the most unlikely yet inspiring sources too. For example, in the depths of the
Great Depression of the 1930s, a group of Seattle housewives developed a "just-add-water" baking mix that
is still popular today, more than 75 years later. (You may have used it yourself -- it's known as Krust-eze.)
In fact, a number of businesses that are still operating today were founded during the 1930s.
A report from the Kaufmann Foundation (an organization that tracks entrepreneurial activity) has shown a
significant increase in the number of entrepreneurs over the past two years or so, particularly among older
people and Latinos. What might surprise you is a great many of these new entrepreneurs appear to be
laid-off workers from construction and engineering trades who are now offering their skills directly to the public.
Correspondingly, individual Web designers in the U.S. also offer services directly to the public, as
corporate businesses become increasingly "globalized" through this new economy and look for lower-paid
workers in countries such as India and Romania.
Whether or not you should hang out your own shingle under current economic conditions depends a great
deal upon your particular skill set and your financial situation. Start out by looking around you.
- Where are the customers lined up?
- What are people talking about?
- Which web sites or business types are getting tons of hits?
Answer these questions, and go after a business that sparks your interest. Passion typically drives success --
and with success, you can ultimately say goodbye to hiring managers for good too.
Review our main feature: Turn
Unemployment into Self-Employment: 5 Tips on How to Start.
See also our no-cost Entrepreneur & Business
Start-Up Tools and Resources.
Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search
terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
This article is part of Job Action Day.
Teena Rose is a columnist, public speaker, and certified/published resume writer with
Resume to Referral.
She's authored several books, including 20-Minute Cover Letter Fixer, How to Design,
Write, and Compile a Quality Brag Book, and Cracking the Code to Pharmaceutical Sales.
Read more articles from Teena Rose by visiting her
Career, Employment, and Job Articles
