Can we learn something about a crisis and why there's never a perfect time to start entrepreneurial life

The starting point of the entrepreneurial path

I began my entrepreneurial journey two years ago when I started my own business. The timing was perfect; there was a global pandemic, dark clouds in the financial market, and later, the war in Ukraine further increased economic uncertainty.

There were more reasons not to start a business than reasons to start. Nevertheless, I wanted to create a company at that time because I didn't think there would be a better opportunity in the future. Even though I like to think about the future optimistically, the world will have to face and deal with crises in the future as well. However, how we react to crises and what we can learn from them is a different matter.

Is there a right timing?

Many who dream about becoming an entrepreneur wonder when to start a business. Is there a sweet spot for starting a company? I strongly believe that a considerable amount of potential corporate ideas and services are left in the drawer box because many think about the perfect timing to start. From my point of view, there is no perfect timing. Of course, there is hard work behind many successful stories, but also luck with being in the right place at the right time. Rather than the timing, more crucial factors that affect the success of a business are, amongst others:

• If the business idea has potential
• Whether you can solve the actual problem of the customer
• Whether you can create value for the customer with your service
• If there is demand for your service and service model
• If the market is ready for your service
• Whether you have a team with the right capabilities
• Whether you have networks that support starting and continuing your business
• Whether you have some capital to get started
• Whether your business model is sustainable.

Understandably, different life and financial situations also affect whether we are ready to start the sometimes uncertain and unknown entrepreneurial path. However, another question is whether there will be a better chance to start a business later in life. Hard times raise the bar to become an entrepreneur, and financial uncertainty may affect why many of us choose traditional and regular paid employment. Especially, different crises that have broader effects on our society may affect our decision to begin. I often hear that many have considered entrepreneurship at some point in their lives and regretted later in life why they didn't start entrepreneurship.

If I were asked whether it was the right choice to start a company during the prevailing uncertainty, I would say it definitely was. During this uncertainty, I have learned a lot, and above all, I have been able to concentrate on those topics that I feel are most important and meaningful and which developed my business further. Crises help us understand which topics demand special attention regarding the business. The time of crisis is a stress test for your company. If you can work as an entrepreneur during hard times, it is more likely to survive in the future and during the economic boom. It's a good insight to all of us that "Half of all the Fortune 500 companies were created in a crisis^[1]".

Crises emphasize the importance of prioritization

One of the learnings for me during crises has been prioritizing and focusing on topics that create value the most. Many of us recognize the habit of listing tasks on the to-do list with the idea of completing them all at some point. In reality, one or more new tasks have appeared by the time you've completed one task on the list. Obviously, we don't have time to complete all tasks successfully. We need to prioritize.

During the economic uncertainty, I realized that in the early stage, I had to focus on business, which would generate income steadily, make business continuity possible, and accumulate buffer simultaneously. I focused my time and energy on prioritizing the tasks that had the most significant business impact. My approach was also to identify similarities between tasks so completing one task could also help to perform other tasks. For example, when preparing for a training by collecting new ideas and examples, I was able to prepare multiple blog post ideas at the same time.

When there is no uncertainty and no crises to worry about, choosing the most meaningful tasks and focusing your time on them is easier. It's also possible that you have multiple tasks or projects going on simultaneously, but none of them will move forward, or they proceed very slowly. That is also my personal experience. In a crisis, we must choose the tasks that matter the most. A good question is, however, how to do it.

One way of prioritizing tasks is to use the Eisenhower matrix^[2]. In the matrix, prioritizing is done by categorizing tasks according to their urgency and importance. It utilizes the four quadrants model, which helps to understand which tasks should be done first, which should be scheduled, which to delegate, and which shouldn't be done at all.

The power scarcity in a time of crisis

At the beginning of entrepreneurship, you often have to make choices under scarcity. There may be a limited amount of money available, and the first years will go by while counting cents. As an entrepreneur, I also have had to make the decisions between paying salary and company investments, so whether I pay myself or use the money, for example, in investments, which boost working.

Crises in themselves also create scarcity. In uncertain financial times, organizations need to think more precisely about where to invest and where to get the best revenue from their investments. Scarcity can also be seen as an opportunity; in some cases, it can create more innovation ^[3].

It is surely hard to create anything new in challenging economic situations if the entrepreneur's or company's financial situation is weak and despair takes over. In these cases, scarcity will turn against itself. In turning scarcity into strength, it is good to consider that the company's foundations should be solid. Otherwise, it may be difficult to create anything new or innovative with limited time and resources. It is good to note that "scarcity can cause to look for new resources instead of solving the actual problem ^[4]" and a scarce situation can cause a force to innovate, which can, in return block innovation.

Crises as a learning opportunity

Global crises affect each organization without exception, either directly or indirectly. They force organizations to assess how they can handle processes more sensibly, efficiently, and effectively with fewer resources. Crises may change the prevailing norms or create new successful services.

A pandemic as a crisis: How global, and situations that more broadly affect our societies, force us to adapt to a new situation where we can't work under the prevailing norms. For example, new working conditions, such as remote working, become a new norm. From this, we can learn how to utilize different working models and increase employees' flexible working, which is not dependent on time or place.

Force majeure as crisis: situations in which business is required to cease or has to be limited affect how we modify our existing business, develop the current services, or create whole new services. The learning here for the future is how to work logically in such situations and build a mechanism and culture for the organization that enables finding innovative solutions in exceptional situations very quickly, if necessary.

When the next crisis comes, we will be more likely a step ahead and more prepared. It's crucial that organizations have mechanisms available to be able to adapt as a chameleon in quickly changing situations. When the changes in the business environment become even faster, it's useful for organizations to have elasticity and flexibility to face the changing circumstances. Learning and elastic organizations have the best possibilities to be successful after a crisis.

Conclusion

We can always justify ourselves that there will be a better day to start a company, but we can never be sure when that day will come. Many great companies would have remained unfounded if people had allowed uncertainty and threats to overcome passion, curiosity, and faith in the viability of the business idea.

Crises can guide us and even offer us a direction toward the path we are aiming for when we feel that the world is filled with uncertainty and fear of the future. Crises are an opportunity to learn and create something new. They help us to understand what is most important and focus our precious resources on the most crucial and valuable topics.

Crises must be treated with the seriousness they demand. Still, we must remember that crises have also helped humankind find the right direction, united people, and helped us think about what is most important to us and worth pursuing.