During a period of recession or depression, industries, or businesses that provide or manufacture goods that fulfils the basic needs of people are less likely to struggle.
If you own a business, ask yourself whether your goods or services are luxurious items or basic everyday necessities. Your business conditions will depend on what you manufacture
A research was conducted on different businesses that provide basic services; they are as follows:
- Industries providing essential public services such as electricity, water facilities, etc.
- Industries providing mandated services such as pipeline inspection
- Industries providing staple items like grocery items
- Industries providing maintenance services or critical repairing services such as the auto-mechanic firms
During recession or depression, certain small industries or businesses thrive even if the economy is disturbed or difficult. These businesses that can survive the recession periods are known as recession-proof or counter-cyclical businesses.
If you decide to establish a small business during a recession, and if you manage to survive, you are more likely to thrive once the economy starts to recovers.
This article will provide you with detailed ideas of starting your own business even while the economy is experiencing a crash.
- Accounting Services – during these shaky and uncertain economic situations, tax and accounting services are likely to prosper. This is because many cooperation and entrepreneurs require account advisors to be confident and certain about the business cycles and business affairs, especially during tax time.
- Fast Food Centres – It really does not matter whether the economy is witnessing a recession or depression when it comes to food. Everyone still requires to eat. Whether they are looking for tasty treats that help them through a troubling situation or they want to opt for the healthy option for the sake of sustaining themselves. Fast food centers can thrive during a stressful economic situation. For instance, McDonald’s expanded its fast-food business during the recession of 2008-09.
- Grocery – During any economic crisis, people like to hoard food in huge bulk. They purchase large quantities of grocery items such as flour, sugar, and other basic or staple products. Therefore, grocery stores can be a good investment, no matter what the economic situation is.
- Auto-Repairing Services – For some reasons, the auto repairing services tend to expand manifolds, during economic crises. This may be because people do not want to buy a car, instead, they attempt to take good care of the existing cars.
- Tutoring Services – Another service that is recession-proof is the tutoring service. This service can be provided virtually too. You can deliver a class online or online or you can do both. This makes the service extremely versatile. Hence, even when the economy is struggling, your field of work will still be popular and your service will still be highly demanded.
- Repairing Services – This is again another business that is less likely to shut down unless the owners decide to stop their service. Even during a crisis situation, people will still require repairing services since they usually do not want to purchase new things. A leaky roof or a clogged sink or plumbing will always exist and this requires professionals who provide repair services. This particular business requires almost no investments except the one-time investment on tool collection.
- Resume or CV Writing Services – During any recession period, the unemployment level is extremely high as several people lose jobs. Not only unemployment, but underemployment is also very rampant. This is the time when people start to polish their resume again. And hence, the demand for resume writers increases.
- Laundry Services – Everyone prefers to be clean and fresh, no matter what the economic condition is. They prefer wearing fresh clothes and hence, dry-cleaning and laundry businesses stay unaffected.
- Certain Reasonable Luxury Items like chocolates and ice-cream – There seems to be a contradiction when it comes to affordable and reasonable luxury items. People feel a lot deprived during an economic recession. Businesses selling medium luxury chocolates instead of premium-level chocolates, do pretty well. Ice cream shops also prosper since, people need something to feel happy about. And ice-creams do a great job!
- Debt-Collection Agency – Since, during a recession, several people fail to make their payments on debts like credit cards, you can start this business of collecting debt from people, to reduce the overhead costs.
- Home Staging – It becomes extremely difficult, during a recession, to buy and sell a house. This makes home stager a very important service. A home stager simply decorates the house and makes it look appealing to the possible buyers. They have extensive knowledge about what the buyers are looking for. Hence, this business is completely recession-resistant.
- Virtual Assistant – This job witnesses a rising curve as business do not want to hire additional expensive staff on site. This result in outsourcing several functions to people outside the business. A virtual assistant serves as the administrative assistant to CEO’s, executives, entrepreneurs or even the entire business. The communication work is done on telephone or online.
- Food Truck – If you are planning to begin a business of serving food without investing much on entry costs, you can always consider getting a food truck. You do not have to pay for a franchise or a sit-down restaurant. Get a used truck if you have or find used truck from somewhere and you can invest minimal amounts on it. During social distancing, you will get adequate customers who love to eat.
- Funeral services – Death, being a natural event, it may occur to anyone at any time. Hence, even during a recession, there is still a demand for death-care services.
Conclusion
No matter what happens to an economy, whether it experiences a boom or a recession, certain businesses will keep surviving through the bad times.
If you are looking for small businesses that tend to thrive during economic crises, you have multiple options depending on your resources and your capacity to start the business.
