Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know the economy has been down for months, jobs are being lost, credit is tight to non-existent, and everyone seems to be holding fast to what money they have. Bad time to start a new business? Not necessarily.
When times are tough, we in the educational end of the industry commonly see spikes in the number of attendees signing up for starting-a-new-business classes. The darker the economic outlook, the longer the waiting list for classes seems to grow. The stories are the same during every down cycle in the economy when students attend a class, stand up to introduce themselves, and tell why they came.
“I’ve been downsized.”
“I took early retirement.”
“I don’t want to depend on someone else for my livelihood.
“I want to start something on the side – just in case!”
On the plus, even in the bad times the decorated apparel business is one of the least expensive ventures you might find. A legitimate startup screen printing business can be put together for about $15,000, or less if you’re creative. Is this the ideal, most efficient investment scenario? Well, more investment gives you a bigger, better, more efficient printing operation. But, you can start a real business with real cash flow in this price range, and then build from there.
On the flipside, an inexpensive startup opportunity also means there are plenty of folks in this industry who probably should have stuck with their day jobs. But, that can just mean a bigger opportunity for you. People are always telling me they have too much competition in their area. I respond, “There are lots of screen printers, but there aren’t very many good screen printers.” Be one of the good ones and you can be successful in this business, no matter what the economy has in store for us.
Even in economic downturns as we’re struggling through right now, kids still need soccer uniforms, lawn services still need T-shirts for their staff, and my daughter in college still needs to buy those $20.00 T-shirts with one color prints from her favorite online stores!
Today might be a good day to start a business.
