In a time of recesssion, who experiences a boom?

Posted on March 12, 2009

Just a little bit of thinking out loud here, following on from a recent post.

So we’re coming into what most experts are calling a global recession.

But that doesn’t mean that it will impact equally on everyone.

Certain industries, I’m sure, will prosper in the coming years. The question is, how can we position ourselves to take best advantage of this?

Off the top of my head, there are a few industries that will experience boom times.

Education: Many people will take advantage of redundancy payouts or increased free time to upskill. I’d expect educational institutions to see some growth, but as individuals, this may a bandwagon we can get on by creating educational electronic products.

Entertainment (on a budget): Why take the family to the movies when you can rent or buy a DVD and watch it at home, and make your own popcorn, buying your soda from the supermarket? Similarly, buying books will lose out to buying second hand, or borrowing from a library.

Employment Assisters: CV editors/writers, cover letter writers. Anything that helps make people more employable, that’s probably a service you can sell. However, out of work people won’t have a lot of spare funds, so you have to be able to do it cheaply.

Optimisers: A business that helps people be more efficient at something, that returns more value than it costs. The hard thing is proving that value before being given the opportunity to provide it.

Discounters: This is really the low hanging fruit, and it’s a no-win scenario in the long run. However, if you’re starting out in a new field, then your discounts make you more attractive. Of course, you’re also probably competing with people who have more experience, and they’re discounting as well, so you need to find something to differentiate yourself.

While it’s a truism that a rising tide lifts all boats, I don’t think that the same applies when the tide is on the way out – some boats will stay a little higher than others. The challenge is in finding a way to ensure that you stay well afloat.

The way to stay afloat is to add provable value. To help people out with some things for free, while knowing that then, you’ll be the go-to-guy for things that need your personal touch.

In my dayjob, I’m about as recession-proof as I can expect to be. I work in IT, I’m quite senior, and the most broadly capable person here (in terms of both breadth and depth of experience). While I wouldn’t like to try and run these systems without the support of my team, I could conceivably do so – now all I have to do to keep my base income flowing is try to make sure the company stays afloat.

Of course, as we all know, I want more than a dayjob, that’s what I want to be living without right now. So the challenge, for me, is applying my skill-sets to recession-proof ventures.

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