Paid to Play

There’s a growing number of people realising that being motivated and self employed can be generally safer in an economic downturn than working as an employee for somebody else! Its a known fact that many successful businesses are started in an economic downturn.  The important part of business start-up is realising what sort of businesses do ok during recessions….

Clearly for any business to succeed there has to be demand and also a willingness by the business person to satisfy that demand to customer expectations. This is even more important in economic downturns, get it right and the business continues to perform, get it wrong and the business will quickly collapse!  The entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne professes in his autobiography that shrinking economies cause problems for both large companies and mismanaged companies, whilst the new business or small startup is dynamic in nature focussing on providing the right mix of product service and price to customers.  Being able to quickly modify a service offering and change with the times is something which small businesses and entrepreneurs generally do with ease. This dynamic allows competitive advantage over larger more capital intensive businesses.  As long as finances can be controlled and ensure the cash flow of sales to be smooth - the small business is perfectly placed to take advantage of economic downturns.

The only other facet a small business needs to be great during an economic downturn is mentor support.  Relationships with other dynamic business people, either via mentoring, co-operative working, or supply chain synergy, are key to ensuring small businesses make the most of the inherant opportunities in this part of the economic cycle.  Support from fellow business people who really know what they are doing can multiply dramatically the impact of the small business.  From sharing experience and insight, to sharing technology and even opening new doors!  Mentor type business relationships are worth their weight in gold.

The entrepreneur Chris Cooke who originally set up the vacation rentals site www.rentinnerja.com quickly realised the value of business mentors.  Not only seeking out business suppliers, but actively searching for synergy partners which could help his business in so many more ways than a traditional service supplier - Chris benefitted from unparalled performance gains by having specialist mentors advising him in how to take his self catering holiday rentals business forward.

Realising the value of synergy mentoring - Chris adopted the same approach by quadroupling his business during 2008/9 and launching a unique franchise opportunity under the Rentin-Group where Chris brings his original mentors along with himself in allowing other motivated self starters be coached in successful niche market vacation rentals in their own new businesses.  “The benefits to the new business are tangible, and the quality of the coaching and business insight to this exciting industry is second to none!” says Chris who has seen rapid take up of his unique holiday rental franchises with the first release of niche areas seeing fast growth and success.