Hi Abbie,

Historically, periods of economic 'upheaval' are those that see a relatively higher rate of business starts than other periods. People out of work look for alternatives.

The last few years there has been a lot of 'hype' about 'home based', 'tele-commute', 'e-commerce', and other like topics of 'easy', 'no risk', and 'no work' jobs or business opportunities. LOTS of people find that using the hype they can take advantage of the people looking for alternatives to being out of work.

That being said, there is no evidence that a properly planned, researched and implemented business will not succeed, even if there is a 'recession'.

As Sarah points out, opportunity still exists, and can even be greater at times like this; it simply becomes a matter of research, testing your assumptions, and more research.

Avoid the hype, don't look for the 'easy' way out, and look hard at the numbers.

The place to begin is with your own concepts of the program. Outline your ideas on paper; try to define exactly what you wish to offer.

From there, you should be able to determine costs of facility and equipment, labor, etc.

Next, try to determine who will buy from you. Define your market segments, your prospect pool. Research the market and try to identify the key factors they have for making the 'buy' decision. This is sometimes difficult, since you will have pre-conceived notions to color the evidence retrieved from your research. Try to identify how to reach the target market/segment with your advertising/promotions, and guess (estimate) what kinds of response rates you will receive.

From there, try to guess (estimate) how much money you will earn, and how quickly. This will help you to decide whether the ideas are feasible. If not, try to find where you made an incorrect assumption, analyse your research to see what may be missing, and change your initial assumptions accordingly.

You can download the free business planning research guide at www.abusinessmentor.com to help get you started.

Good Luck!

Howard Van Auken, the Bob and Kay Smith Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University, knows that 2010 may not be the best time to start a small business. But he says people are still spending and that presents opportunity.

Van Auken sees the economic situation offering new prospects for e-businesses due to the growing popularity of online shopping. He also reports that discount stores are doing quite well, despite the recession.