It's easy to fall into the dark places when you swaddle yourself in bad news. After a while, it starts messing with your head.
I've been around long enough to recognize this pattern. It goes something like this: When things feel bleak, entrepreneurs see something glimmering between the headlines. Opportunities.
Good shit happens when culture and markets are unpredictable. And there's data to prove it.
While the country was unraveling during the Great Depression, Walt Disney incorporated his studio. Hewlett and Packard started tinkering in a garage. Not because conditions were perfect, they were far from it. These companies started because conditions were imperfect and allowed it.
Fast forward to right now. More than half a million new business applications were filed in January alone. Half a million people looked at this so-called shaky economy and thought, "Yeah. I'm in." Formation numbers over the past few years have been historically high. Millions of businesses launched. That's… rad. Entrepreneurs seizing the day yet again.
Here's what I've learned from interviewing founders for years: Entrepreneurs see differently. Where most people see instability, they see an opportunity to build. Where most see layoffs, they see talent coming back into the wild. Where most see increasing barriers to entry, entrepreneurs see opportunity.
A while ago I interviewed Adam Goering of Revive Media for The Get Bizee Podcast. Cool dude. Great sunglasses. He said something on the podcast that made me laugh because it was so honest. "I could have been an asshole, but I started a business instead." That's the energy. I mean, the guy left Amazon on a Friday and started a business the following Monday. You can complain about the machine or you can build your own.
Look, I'm not naïve. It's hard out there. But it has always been hard. The difference now is that the tools are cheaper, distribution is instant, and customers are reachable without a gatekeeper. You can launch from a laptop. You can test in real time. You can find your people.
That's entrepreneurship. Technology may disrupt, but that entrepreneurial fire keeps burning.
