Starting a business post-pandemic 5 tips

Be your own boss: 5 tips on how to start a business post-pandemic

August 18, 2021 10:10 AM

Workers aren’t going to wait around for jobs — they’re going to make their own.

Employment rates may be on the mend with the number of unemployed people falling by over 700,000 in the month of July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but they’re still a far cry from pre-pandemic levels. In the wake of an unsteady economy, workers’ ideas of job security — not to mention the very definition of work — has been completely redefined, leading more and more down the road of entrepreneurship.

“A couple of things happened in COVID,” says entrepreneur and business strategy consultant, Athan Slotkin. “People were all of a sudden not working and at the same time they started to gain some perspective.”

Even before the pandemic there was a growing freelance digital economy thanks to the increase in tech and tools at workers’ disposal, Slotkin says. This, combined with record-breaking layoffs, a sudden influx of young employees looking to find purposeful jobs and a fundamental change in the overall attitude toward 9-to-5 gigs has all led to a boom in small, self-owned businesses.

“You look at millennials and Gen Z and they tended to not be very corporate-centric people to begin with — and they're becoming more and more of the population,” Slotkin says. “That in conjunction with the continued rise of tools, technology and platforms for creating your own businesses, and we find ourselves now in this new world where more of the population are doing their own thing and being their own boss.”

But starting your own business is no small feat, and the pandemic has added some additional hurdles new entrepreneurs will need to overcome. Slotkin shared a few tips with EBN for workers looking to rise to the challenge:

Pick a business that people need.

“It can't just be something that you need,” he says. “You need to make sure others not just want this business or this product or service, but that they need it as well.”

Beginner entrepreneurs can achieve this by simply immersing themselves in the creator community, according to Slotkin. Posting online, creating surveys and having in-person conversation with their target audience are just a few options.

Pick a business that has large profit margins.

There will always be costs that come up in the business building process that weren’t accounted for in typical overhead expenses — and business owners should always be prepared for the worst.

“In order to account for disruptions in their business or in the goods or services needed to run their business, [entrepreneurs] need to make sure they have large profit margins to withstand that,” Slotkin says. “It’ll give them more cushion to be able to run their business profitably at the end of the day.”

No one can predict the future and there will always be variables business owners won’t be able to mitigate when they go wrong, Slotkin says. But keeping an eye on their environment and factoring in as many potential shortcomings as possible is a good place to start.

Pick an industry that you understand very well or are willing to become an expert in.

Ideally, anyone who wanted to become an entrepreneur was already an expert in the subject matter before they started the business. But what also works is if they're willing to become an expert.

There will always be value in strategically growing the team to include members well-versed in whatever industry the entrepreneur is looking to break into, according to Slotkin. But a good business owner never relies on others alone.

“For you to be an effective leader in your business it really helps to understand what the core operations, competencies and skills are that are necessary in your business,” he says. “It’ll also let you sleep better at night knowing that if something were to happen with your team or a team member, you're not going to have to shut your business off.”

Think mid-to-long term.

Owning a business is not a sprint, it’s a marathon — a fact that entrepreneurs should keep on the forefront, especially when they find themselves struggling in the beginning.

“On social media, people post videos of these overnight successes when the reality is that, it’s not real — they’re just showing you the good parts,” Slotkin says. “New entrepreneurs have to remember that mid- to long-term businesses don't become successes overnight. It takes work, even though you may not see that on social media because that's not the glamorous side.”

Know your numbers inside and out.

Being on top of your company’s finances may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.

“People are intimidated if they're not a numbers person or a financial person,” Slotkin says. “In 2021, we've got all these courses so you can have a good sense of how to be quite profitable in your business. Those skills will just allow you to make quick and easy decisions that will impact your business every single day.”