2020 has been a difficult year for businesses around the world. Many people have found themselves furloughed or have lost their job as a result of the pandemic, while others may be rethinking what they want out of a career.
But you might be surprised to learn that there are positives to retraining and starting your own business at this time, in preparation for a fresh start in 2021. In fact, throughout history, recessions and unstable times have presented great opportunities for new companies, with the likes of Uber, Airbnb and many others all born during difficult financial periods. If you’re thinking of retraining and starting your own business, here are some reasons why 2021 could be the year to do it.
It’s a good use of free time
If you’ve found yourself with more downtime as a result of lockdown and social distancing, what better way to use it to its full advantage than by investing in your business idea? Time is often what holds us back from starting a new venture as it can be difficult to find spare moments to work on other projects in our busy schedules.
So, if you have time to spare, it can be beneficial to make a start on your business while you can to get it off the ground. By using your free time now, while it’s available to you, you can consider different ideas and plan accordingly so you’re fully prepared and can be sure that you’re building the best business possible.
You can make the most of changing circumstances
Adaptability and being able to shift focus have been key skills for many businesses this year, but you can use these changing circumstances to your advantage. There are new trends and gaps in the market emerging as a result of 2020, which you can build a business around for 2021.
But you can also use the uncertainty of these times to experiment and test your new services or products to see how they’re received by your target audience. With a lower barrier to entry and extraordinary opportunities available, starting a business now could provide entrepreneurs with access to customers and talent that may not have been available to them previously.
Training is available remotely
While training in person to gain new skills might be off the cards for a while, you don’t need to leave your home in order to build up your qualifications. Online learning platforms make it easy to build on what you already know or retrain entirely for a new industry, so you’re prepared to kickstart your business with confidence.
There are many benefits to online learning, from the convenience of being able to learn at your own pace and at a location that suits you, to the affordability of online courses and the ease of being able to fit your learning around your lifestyle and responsibilities. Gaining qualifications can be a stumbling block for people who want to transition to a new career, so making the most of remote training can alleviate this problem and enable you to gain the skills you need.
It could be very profitable
Many people worry that retraining is going to be expensive and that it comes with no guarantee of a job at the end of it. However, this doesn’t need to be the case. If you are interested in pursuing a lucrative career, it can definitely be worth doing your research into the kinds of salary you can expect.
For example, a recent survey of the trades revealed that electricians earn an average of £33,495, while the average salary of a tiler has grown by 11% in 2020. Not every decision has to be about money – but it is still worth understanding what your retraining could be worth to you.
It’s a chance to try something new
It can be daunting to take the leap into a new career at any time, but these circumstances may give you the chance to try something you might have been too nervous to try before. What’s more, you might have identified solutions to the challenges people have been facing and determined new ways to operate your business, compared to how you would have pre-2020.
In 2021, armed with the knowledge that you’ve gained over the course of the year, you’ll be in a better position to seek out new ways of doing things rather than recreate old systems which can be inspiring and invigorating.
Final thoughts
For those willing to take a risk and find innovative ways of meeting the demands of the consumer, now could well be the perfect time to start a new business. While starting a new venture is always a challenging time, you can use this time to invest in training, learn new skills and identify gaps in the market to build a successful business that will thrive in 2021.
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