Let’s face it. It seem’s as though everytime we turn on our TV sets, all we hear about is bad news (layoffs, foreclosures, bankruptcy etc). We all understand that the economy goes through up and down cycles, but this down cycle is one of the worst we’ve ever faced, and due to Globalization, everyone on Planet Earth is feeling the crunch.

So what does this mean for your business? Are you supposed to wait for things to turn around, or do you use this time as an opportunity to do your due-diligence to fill a void in the market? Companies that survive rough economic times are the ones that have always provided convenient products/services. For example, Walmart & Campbell’s are doing well during this downturn, because even when the economy is booming, they have always provided low cost products. Now that the everyone’s budget is squeezed, the product offering of these companies are even more enticing.

Here are 13 companies started during an economic downturn. The 14th could you yours.

Hyatt Corp - 1957 - 1958 Eisenhower Recession

The Jim Henson Company - Eisenhower Recession

Burger King Corp - Eisenhower Recession

IHOP Corp - Eisenhower Recession

LexisNexis - 1973 Oil Crisis

FedEx - 1973 Oil Crisis

Microsoft - 1975 Oil Crisis / economic Downturn

CNN - 1980 Recession

MTV - 1980/81 Recession / Slump

Trader Joe’s - 1958 Economic slowdown

GE - The 1873 Panick

Hewlett Packard - End of Great Depression

Wikipedia Foundation - Post 9/11 Recession 

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“Excuses are tools of the incompetent”

Last week was a historical one. For the first time in the history of the United States, an African American by the name of Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States. 

Even though his race has always been somewhat of a big deal to some, his intellectual capacity has never been questionned. He has the ability to hold intelligent conversations with Nobel laureates and the grace, to captivate the imaginations of millions of people around the globe. 

One thing that President Elect Obama never did was make an excuse for why he shouldn’t be the next President of the United States, despite the odds being stacked against him. He used technology to fuel his campaign in a way technology has never been used. He visited the most rural areas in the United States to campaign for voters. He targeted the large number of voters that didn’t show up to vote in the 2004 elections in battle ground states like Florida and urged them to come out and vote. He decided not to use a government program that matches campaign funding because he realized that, as amazing as America is, he was going to need to outspend his opponent to get his message across and it was imperative that no limit was placed on this amount.

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