tobacco farmers quit planting tobacco
The vast majority of modern educated population has developed a vivid tapestry of what life was like during the Great Depression. The views of farmers Fighting for filth like the Joads from Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" big soup lines of the city, the cities of stores thousands homeless and photographs of men selling apples on street corners have been polished in many of us a searing picture of hopelessness and despair.
Today At present, the United States shared the most serious economic malaise since the Great Depression with all countries in the world. While not approaching the calamity absolute damage 1930, done to our wallets and minds, however, daunting and bruising. Businesses, organizations and individuals is understandable fear and have reduced spending rather than capital preservation. Risk-taking, the key to maximizing profit, has been practically closed. The growth of small business and development had been strangled. Entrepreneurs have crouched in fear of the vagaries of a market that seems to have no stomach for new products and ideas.
In times like these it is worth studying the lessons of history. The Great Depression was sad for many, of course. However, in reality it was a fertile time for the creativity and entrepreneurship.
People were desperate to tell every purchase, every dollar spent to build and maximize value. The result was that an exciting array of creative breakthroughs came on the market to meet increased demand in the economy.
The importance of advertising to consumers magnified and became a much more critical tool used by manufacturers of products packaged to attract value-conscious consumers. Heinz Ketchup, Palmolive Soap, Campbell Soup, Westinghouse appliances, Revlon and Max Factor cosmetics and Hormel Spam enjoyed an explosion of growth created by the new concepts of sales promotion. Vallas, mass advertising, couponing and sampling was omnipresent. Local, regional and national bodies evolved to help makers in promoting their products in new and exciting ways. Advertisement Barn to snuff products and Burma Shave road signs added needed income for farmers and landowners besieged road.
The Studebaker Motor Company has evolved from a 19th century maker of hand-carts and wheelbarrows to transport struggling automaker. The company enjoyed modest success until the Great Depression. Recognizing the opportunity, Studebaker returned to his roots as a manufacturer of transportation work and began producing the Studebaker truck working panels. At a price of about $ 600, horse Battle of this vehicle has enabled thousands of workers, operators and contractors to gain little traction life, construction and agriculture from scratch.
The pen, nylon, radio, radar, land camera, photocopier, tape, television, FM radio band, the helicopter, the jet engine and the electric razor are just some of the inventions were perfected and came to market during the 1930s. Inventors do not stopped their search for new, valuable innovations. They seized the reality we are faced with specific and practical solutions to problems to be addressed at that time.
The same opportunity is available today. The opportunity to create products or services they offer great value and excellent value is appreciated by the consumer more than at any time in recent memory. No rush to basic concepts, store brands, products that perform no frills and resilient. The inventor is can address these contemporary needs will find a willing acceptance of investors, consumers and retailers.
There is never a better time than now to launch a product, start a business or a product license. This is true when markets are booming, or when the economy is in a valley. Always excuses for not making a sale, not to close a deal or not to take that opportunity, that opportunity that can change lives. Each economic times provides the opportunity for success those willing to address real needs with the invention. History offers plenty of evidence.
Geoff Ficke has been a serial entrepreneur for almost 50 years. As a small boy, earning his spending money doing odd jobs in the neighborhood, he learned the value of selling himself, offering service and value for money.
After putting himself through the University of Kentucky (B.A. Broadcast Journalism, 1969) and serving in the United States Marine Corp, Mr. Ficke commenced a career in the cosmetic industry. After rising to National Sales Manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care at age 28, he then launched a number of ventures, including Rubigo Cosmetics, Parfums Pierre Wulff Paris, Le Bain Couture and Fashion Fragrance.
Geoff Ficke and his consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, Inc. (http://www.duquesamarketing.com) has assisted businesses large and small, domestic and international, entrepreneurs, inventors and students in new product development, capital formation, licensing, marketing, sales and business plans and successful implementation of his customized strategies. He is a Senior Fellow at the Page Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Business School, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
