If now is great, when is it not great? Does that mean before the recession – when capital was easier to access and we were rich with optimism and success stories – was not a good time? Assuming that could not be the case, then is it just good spin? I don’t typically dissect hopeful statements, but I also think if we are to give valuable advice to would-be or new entrepreneurs, this is important to clarify.

I don’t really think now is a ‘great time’ to start a business. I think that statement implies that it’s somehow easier than normal, when in fact; it’s probably harder. Now is a great time, however, to take a chance because for many, there is little more to lose. If you can’t take the opportunity to travel, volunteer or enjoy funemployment, you must either look for work or make your own. The asset of our environment, therefore, is that we are more forgiving of failure because there are more barriers than normal. So yes, it’s a great time to try but for reasons that we’d rather not be in to begin with.

It’s likely that the majority of those who were going to start a new business would have done so regardless of the climate. If you’re motivated by the reverse-failure motivator alone, that simply is not enough to carry you through the challenge. To be an entrepreneur, you need to be many things, but many will say that you must first be rich with passion. I’m not going to apologize for being cliché because it’s true. Passion is what people respond to, not the product. Passion is what drives you to work when you have no one to respond to but yourself. Passion makes you naïve to the universally accepted realities, which is good, because you’ll be told it’s not possible more than you will be told it is.

This is especially the case for the most compelling reason why it’s a great time to start a business – Creative Destruction. Creative Destruction refers to the “process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.” In english, Creative Destruction occurs when someone figures out a dramatically new way of doing something, typically not as well (at first) and at a lower cost than the traditional ways of doing it. Wikipedia, the Huffington Post, Southwest Airlines and MP3 players are all examples of Creative Destruction. I feel guilty glazing over the concept but in the interest of your time, the importance of Creative Destruction is this: loyalty to any brand is down now largely due to people’s sensitivity to cost so if you can figure out a dramatically different way to do something, the market will be inviting. Your litmus test is how crazy people think you are either because of the ambition of the idea or the idea itself. For example, I might strike to ire of many people by suggesting we should dump the world’s garbage into a black hole in space but if it were hypothetically possible and cheaper, I think it could represent big business.

So returning full circle, we should strive to ingrain the idea that it is always a great time to start a business. The recession indeed provides a new field of opportunities, but they simply are replacing the reasons why non-recession entrepreneurialism is a good thing to try. This will work for some people and not for others. New entrepreneurs should be aware that making your own work will always be harder than finding it, but the great news is that if you won’t notice if you truly love what you’re doing. Finally, aspire to think differently because we don’t need another of whatever we already got. Its always a great time to start a new business but it would be difficult to find another time that would be as welcoming to change.

For once, destruction can be a very positive thing.