This weekend I had an old high school buddy visit me in Philadelphia and we spent this weekend hanging out with my girlfriend in New York City.
In NYC, we took him around and did all the normal touristy stuff. It was fun. But being an obsessive entrepreneur I couldn’t keep my mind off of entrepreneurship, and one of the things I am recently obsessive about, and annoying my girlfriend over, is observing how the economy is affecting life and commerce wherever I am – (annoying my girlfriend by wanting to always talk about it).
While in Times Square outside of Nasdaq, I took a picture of an ominous sign of the times; that is, an ailing stock market.
A view of Nasdaq from outside in Time Square.
However, at the same time, while in the upper west side, the quintessential New York neighborhood where the TV series Seinfeld was filmed, I was passing somebody’s garbage pile outside their row house and saw a pair of black leather shoes that even I deemed new enough to wear myself. Although I didn’t take them, as I just bought a new pair last week, I did take a picture of them.
If people in NYC are throwing out "new" pairs of leather shoes, people still have money to spend.
To me, these shoes represent the bright side of a dark economy. The shoes tell me that there are still people who can be sold to, there are still people who want and need to buy new things, and if you can create a product people want or need it doesn’t matter what the state of the economy is, you can still flourish. The bleak picture that the media paints of the world economy should not scare you from starting the business of your dreams.
Times are tough, but people still have money. People are still buying, albeit less, but they are still buying.
If someone in the upper west side of NYC can throw out a pair of leather shoes he only wore a few times, either he is really dumb, or there is hope for the economy.
What do you think? Are you scared to start or grow your business due to the current economic conditions?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
What if that person died and his wife has thrown them away because they always reminded her of him?
Sure I understand. But even products that might enhance people’s business are really hard to sell and promote. It all depends. What I see here in western Germany (we are a very wealthy area here, low depth, low unemployment, etc.) is that people are more aware of those little money wasters like leaving the lights on when not needed or they begin to safe water and gas/oil and other materials that one normally wastes thaughtlessly are considered more precious.
But what’s really discusting is that people who have absolutely no clue but an opinion about anything. They believe they know everything just because they’ve watched the news 5 minutes longer than usual. And eveytime there is another expert on the telly they change their attitude too.
@Jens – haha…yes…he could have died. And actually, there are plenty of reasons that they may have been thrown out. It was more of a symbol to me when I saw it…And regardless of the reason they were thrown out it reminded me that there is always opportunity for an entrepreneur no matter how bad things get.
And yes, what you said about the media and experts on the telly and how they effect peoples attitudes is very true here…what the media says is taken far too literally, and even if what they say isn’t true it becomes true because they said it. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
-Brian