Setting up a business despite the crisis - 7 tips: How to still be successful as an entrepreneur

Economic crisis, layoffs, short-time work, company closures. Add to that the reluctance of banks to grant loans and an increase in corporate insolvencies - that doesn't exactly sound like the best time to become self-employed. But every Crisis can be a chance!

Crisis founders are more innovative and willing to take risks

The strategy consulting firm Bain and Company already carried out a comprehensive study over eight years and with 2.500 surveyed some time ago Companys found out that for exactly 24 percent of American companies the crisis year 2001 was an excellent opportunity to rush from the bottom to the top of the market. In 2001, for example, Apple came out with its iPod and achieved astonishing sales figures in the 2001 Christmas season. But even in quieter times (the study also analyzed the economically relaxed phase after 2001), significantly more companies were unable to catapult themselves to the top.

The secret of the success of such companies: They are simply more innovative and willing to take risks than the competition. Successful entrepreneurs see crises as the necessary “calm before the storm”. They use these rest periods to ideas to work out and initiate innovations that will ignite when the upswing comes. Such good business ideas often arise precisely in times of crisis, even in difficult times customers can assert themselves: The secret: If a product or a service is really good, the says Customer: “I absolutely have to have this product, this service!” – even if they have to save elsewhere to do so.

Secret of success being more active than the competition

But there is a second advantage that companies can take advantage of in difficult times: the crisis has brought about tremendous economic upheaval, which is creating new opportunities, especially for Boy companies arise. However, many potential competitors are in difficult economic times Anxietyto become active.

In another study, Bain and Company has 100 Executives asked about the innovative spirit of German companies. With a sobering result: Although the respondents emphasize that new products and services are vital for the competitiveness of their company - on a scale of 1 to 7 the average value was 6, at the same time they only give the inventiveness of their own employer a 4,7 and rate the structures and processes in-house as only 4,0.

Have courage, don't bury your head in the sand

So it's worth it, even in times of crisis Head stuck in the sand, but to advance your own ideas. Because no matter whether in good times or bad: Business start is always a risk. She always needs that Courageto go ahead with your own ideas, because you can't buy the perfect business idea anywhere. And it always has to be well thought out and planned. So why not start now?

A big Problem In Germany there is still a start-up culture: the Germans lack the courage to become self-employed at all, even if there are plenty of subsidies, a good infrastructure and sufficient Office – and commercial areas. Nevertheless, in international comparison, Germany is not a start-up paradise.

German founders complain about a bad start-up culture

The current GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MONITOR, a study that examines the founding conditions in 42 countries worldwide every year, shows: The start-up culture in Germany is anything but optimal. Germany offers a very good public funding infrastructure, there is sufficient office and commercial space as well as means of transport and communication available, the protection of intellectual property through patents is guaranteed and founders can have numerous advisory services and supplier companies.

On the other hand, Germany performs well in numerous framework conditions in an international comparison clear worse than other countries: start-ups in this country are slowed down by higher market entry barriers and poorer financing conditions. But especially criticize the experts interviewed by GEM the state's excessive regulatory mania, the poor foundation-related Vocational Training and finally the negative overall social attitude towards founding.

Bankruptcy law is scary

The German insolvency law is also particularly problematic: While a bankrupt in other countries is partly free of debt after a few months, the debt discharge period in Germany takes six years. Six years in which a failed entrepreneur finds it difficult to get loans from the bank to start a new business again. It is precisely the scope of a possible bankruptcy that causes Germans to be so unwilling to set up a business.

For these reasons, 46,5% of the 18 to 64-year-olds surveyed in Germany would immediately abandon the step into self-employment - for fear that it could go wrong. Only the very young up to 24 are a little braver. But apart from those, the differences to countries like England, the Netherlands, Australia or above all the USA, where 79 percent were not deterred by fears from setting up a business, are huge.

Starting a business despite the crisis: 7 tips for success

But how exactly do you manage to be successful as an independent entrepreneur despite the crisis? 7 tips.

1. Positive thinking: Whether or not a company is founded often also depends on whether the start-up opportunities on site are assessed positively or not. In Germany, however, only 20 percent of those surveyed see good start-up opportunities. Only in four countries (Japan, Singapore, Hungary and Belgium) is this rated even more negatively.
2. Overcoming fear of failure: Americans are known to be particularly risk-takers. If independence goes wrong, it is not immediately perceived as a personal failure, the attempt counts more than the result, whoever gets up despite defeat is a hero.
3. Appreciate your own abilities more: Germans rate your ability to become self-employed as comparatively poor: only 39 percent of those surveyed believe they have enough knowledge. In Spain 46,3% are convinced of this, in Great Britain 49,6% and in the USA even 50,2%.
4. Do not pay attention to what those around you are saying: The reputation of entrepreneurs in Germany is rather bad - often out of ignorance. Germany is in 34th place out of 42 countries. Iceland is in second place behind the USA, Ireland and Colombia are in fifth and sixth, and the Philippines and Hungary in ninth and tenth. Only in countries such as Slovenia, Hungary or Urugay is self-employment even more suspicious than in Germany.
5. Use information and further training: No wonder that so few Germans feel like starting a business: They are not prepared for self-employment either in school or in college. Germany is among the last ten countries in terms of start-up training. Above all, the economic education here is less geared towards entrepreneurship than much more towards management tasks in hierarchically structured large corporations. On the other hand, the USA and Singapore are way ahead in terms of entrepreneurial training. Anyone who wants to become self-employed should therefore treat themselves to appropriate further training.
6. Politics, regulation, taxes - fight your way through the bureaucracy, it's worth it! Although the German tax system and the German bureaucracy are often scolded: It doesn't look that bad - Germany ranks 17th here. The Icelanders are the most liberal here, with Brazil at the bottom.
7. Make use of the good framework conditions: Overall, you should be happy to found Germany. The country is considered safe and is also attractive for start-ups from abroad. The framework conditions include the funding infrastructure, market openness or financing. In terms of founding conditions, Germany is far behind among the 15 industrialized countries: only in Spain and Italy the situation looks even worse. Overall, Germany ranks sixteenth among a total of 37 countries when all framework conditions are included. The framework conditions are best in the USA, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, followed by countries from Western and (later) Eastern Europe in particular. In general, the industrialized countries tend to be ahead in an international comparison. In the emerging and developing countries, start-up conditions are generally poorer, but the start-up rate is higher in comparison. The large number of start-ups in countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia or Peru can, however, be traced back to the lack of employment alternatives to the often forced self-employment to secure a living. Overall, the Latin American countries come off worst in terms of framework conditions.