Right time?

A friend of mine has just quit his job to go on his own. And so has another one. And then another. Three people I have spoken to in the past two months have quit their assignments to follow a dream that has been developing for some years
It may be the tail end of the recession and yes in India we did not feel it that hard but yet it may seem foolhardy to dump a safe assignment when all around people are looking for jobs and companies for business.
But adventurers don’t seem to think this way. And that is why history will always give them a special place. But romantic wanderlust aside, is there any recession-proof self employment possible?
Well there are enough examples and data available to believe it is. The gym I go to has expanded membership enough to move to a space twice as big as the first one. It has no big brand name behind it. In fact it is a start up by a young couple. People continue to stream in everyday when I go for class.
Big brand names of today started as recession time start ups.
Hyatt Corp. opened its first hotel’s doors at the Los Angeles International Airport during the Eisenhower recession (1957 to 1958). The chain now operates more than 365 hotels in 25 countries. Before that in 1954, Burger King Corp., began operations when James McLamore and David Edgerton opened a Burger King restaurant in Miami, Fla. Iin 1957, the company introduced its successful signature burger — the Whopper. Today, the company operates more than 11,100 locations in 65 countries. Similarly,
GE was established in 1876 by famed American inventor Thomas Edison in the middle of the Panic of 1873and is now the third largest company in the world. HP was inauspiciously born in a Palo Alto garage at the end of the Great Depression. It became the first technology business to exceed $100 billion in revenue, earning $104 billion in 2007 More? In 1975 Microsoft Corp. was just a little company in Albuquerque. In recession-plagued 1980, CNN was a little-known station called The Cable Network News. It revolutionized how people received information when it premiered as the first 24-hour all-news channel. Today, 1.5 billion people across the globe watch CNN.

There is a logic in these successes. People look for value for money products when the chips are down. This could mean seeds instead of plants, smaller sized containers of treats, less fancy paper wrapping that helps cut cost. So Tesco is selling raw fruit at better prices that consumers can ripen at home because ripening them costs it a lot more money. And then education, food and health products are still absolute necessities. Besides, people- all afflicted by the same recession- want to use their pennies safely to feel good about life. If you can do that with your products and services, you may beat the downtrend. Advice abounds on the Internet on how to go for it. But yet whether you win or lose lies in the attitude of the person setting out to run that new business. As they say, leading the way isn’t easy.