On a recent flight, I sat next to a man who had just started a new business. Unless you’re in Brazil, India, or China, starting a business anywhere else in the world at this moment is a difficult proposition. The recession has not subsided and economic indicators are all over the place. My new friend, Mike, is creating incentive management software for auto sellers. Nissan is his first client. What a way to get started by landing a big fish…no, landing a whale. But then I thought about when I started my own business and decided that this is a perfect time to start a new venture.

I started The A Group ten years ago this past November, a couple of months after 9/11.  I have learned big shifts in the economy, such as our current recession, create openings in opportunity because it often changes the rules of the game.

Businesses, ministries, and churches don’t make major changes when things are going well. But when the rules change and  fat margins are gone, or speed is of the essence, the usual players often can’t make the change fast or cheap enough to be competitive. If you can figure out where the opportunities are and how to do what the big guys were doing but faster, cheaper, or in a new way, then it’s time to break free and seize the moment.

If you have an entrepreneurial heart, this could be your chance to zig while others zag, to sprint while the bloated old guys crawl as they pay for a study to analyze the market conditions and give them enough data to put a matrix team together to discuss the viability of . . . you get my point.

What business or ministry opportunities do you see that have been created by the recession?