By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
If I were to advise anybody as to what kind of business to put up now, I would advise him not to put up anything at all. Not at this time when everybody is reeling in hardship.
While all businesses are hard up, there are still those that are profitable. During the Great Depression in America that started in the late 1920s up to the end of the war in 1945, educational institutions remained profitable. This was due to the low demand for employment as many companies closed shop sending employees to join the throngs of unemployed in the streets. Thus, the remaining corporate employers that were still in business had a heyday choosing the most qualified to hire. Those were the people who had the most college degrees or those with master’s or PhDs.
Those who had low education started lining up to enroll in graduate schools to bolster their employability. Others explored areas where new skills were required and then went to enroll where they could acquire such skills.
The bottom line was, the better educated you were, the better chances of you getting a job.
The situation is almost the same in the Philippines now. So many people are looking for employment. Employers can choose the best ones, the best educated.
Lawyers also had a lot of work to do. Due to the economic difficulties then, so many debtors defaulted from paying their loan obligations. Banks and other creditors were foreclosing on mortgages left and right. That meant a lot of work for lawyers.
During difficulties, a lot of disagreements happen. People were suing each other and so law offices were working over-time, everywhere.
Not only ordinary disagreements. A lot of cheats were sprouting like mushrooms to include swindlers and syndicated criminals. Definitely lawyers were needed to catch and send to jail such characters.
The kinds of businesses that survived during those hard times were those set up properly. Running a business is a science, If you never studied well the business you will set up, it will go the way of those that were put up without giving it much thought and study. Those that came about based on emotional decisions or spur of the moment and not on objective assessments of the business climate then.
Another misconception of newbie businessmen is the thought that once you have organized your business, it is going to start making money right away.
Every business has to build its client base. This does not happen overnight. It takes time. It takes years and for some businesses, they have to count decades before they would see any profit rolling in. Meanwhile your costs are running and would have to be paid, including overhead costs, like salaries of employees. If you started with borrowed money as capital, your creditors would be hounding you.
You must be able to shell out money for all of these during that period, the gestation period—beg, borrow or steal, if you are really that determined to see the business through. If you cannot, sorry, it means folding up.**
