Recession, a new ray of hope....

Hello friends,

We all are facing the recession from last one year which has resulted in loses to everyone from layoffs in companies to reduction in salaries to bankruptcy of companies to high economic loses in stocks to increase in unemployment etc. etc...However it is not new it always comes back after a period of time like a wave comes down after a uprising...Depressions, recessions, slumping economies. These economic conditions are nothing new. For ages, economic times have had an ebb and flow cycle.

Whenever i read anything on recession i always find one thing common..That is recession is the best time to start something new...It marks a new ray of hope for those who can really think beyond their limits and can thereby extend their limits by working on them..

There have been a numerous examples of those who found this new ray of hope..Some of them are Microsoft Corp. in 1975,Hyatt Corp. in 1957-58, Trader Joe’s in 1967, General Electric in 1873,Revlon Cosmetics in 1932,Fortune Magazine in 1930, Hewlett-Packard in 1939, Burger King in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine in 1954, IHOP Restaurants in 1958, The Jim Henson Company in 1958, FedEx in 1973, CNN in 1980 and MTV in 1981.. These well-known companies are fine examples that there is hope and success if you believe in your product and yourself. Few stories are:

1. Microsoft Corp.

Not only was this computer technology conglomerate founded in tough economic times of 1975, its founder, Bill Gates, was a Harvard University dropout. But with all its adversities, it has flourished to a billion dollar company.

2. Hyatt Corp.

You might think it risky opening up upscale hotels during a time when people were less likely to travel and vacation. But that’s exactly what this hotel chain did from 1957 to 1958 during recessionary times under President Eisenhower.

3. Trader Joe’s.

When this famous grocery store opened its doors as Pronto Markets during the economic slump of 1958, it was an instant success. The Trader Joe name change in 1967 was the start of its new branding image of offering unique products under its own label.

4. General Electric.

GE is probably one of the first companies to make history by getting started during the economic recession of 1873. Although the tough economic times lasted for six years, the incandescent lightbulb created by Thomas Edison continues to shine 136 years later. Today, GE is the 10th largest company in the world.

5. Revlon Cosmetics.

Founded in 1932 deep in the years of the Great Depression, Charles and Joseph Revlon unveiled their new opaque nail enamel. Tapping all their resources, the brothers grew their company into a multimillion dollar enterprise within six years.

I feel its really inspiring and it provides a new direction for "where we see ourselves in coming 5 to 10 years or later"...I think everyone is born with an entrepreneurial heart and develops and entrepreneurial mind as he/she grows up..What is really needed is the realization of this fact...I know there are a number of stories of the people who have realized it and attained success..May God help all of us also in creating such stories :) AMEN!!

Please add your comments what you feel about it...

The Google Founders

They came from opposite ends of the earth to create a billion dollar company that has revolutionized the world. California-based Google Inc. has not only become the Internet’s most popular search engine with revenues of over $21 billion yearly, but the company has also undoubtedly entered the mainstream culture; the verb “to google” was recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

For the past decade, Google has been helping people navigate the Internet and find precisely what they were looking for. From providing people with life-saving information to helping breakdown global barriers, Google’s impact on the world is undeniable.

How did two university dropouts transform their simple idea into a billion dollar company?

“We have a mantra: don’t be evil, which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers, for everyone. So I think if we were known for that, it would be a wonderful thing.

Basically, our goal is to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful.If you have a product that’s really gaining a lot of usage, then it’s probably a good idea.

I worry, but I’ve worried all along. I worried as we got bigger and there were new pressures on the company. It wasn’t so long ago that we were all on one floor. Then we moved to a new, larger office building and were on two floors. We added salespeople. Each change was huge and happened over a very short period of time. I learned you have to pay a lot of attention to any company that’s changing rapidly. When we had about 50 people, we initiated weekly TGIF meetings on Friday afternoons so everyone would know what had happened during the week. But those meetings have broken down because we now have too many people, about 1,000, including many who work in different time zones. We try to have a summation of the week’s work via e-mail, but it’s not the same. When you grow, you continually have to invent new processes. We’ve done a pretty good job keeping up, but it’s an ongoing challenge.

We think a lot about how to maintain our culture and the fun elements. I don’t know if other companies care as much about those things as we do. We spent a lot of time getting our offices right. We think it’s important to have a high density of people. People are packed together everywhere. We all share offices. We like this set of buildings because it’s more like a densely packed university campus than a typical suburban office park.

But you don’t need a huge company, just a computer and a part-time person. So you don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea. You can do it in your spare time, you can really work on ideas and see if they take off — rather than trying to raise tons of money, millions of dollars for an idea that may or may not work. And once you have the product and people are using it, it’s very easy to raise investment. ”