What Entrepreneurship Looks Like Coming Out Of Lockdown

And what to do about it

Can you feel the thaw coming? I mean, it’s got to happen sometime, right?

While a lot of the changes forced by the pandemic and quarantine will be permanent or long-lasting, a number of the stricter lockdown regulations imposed across the country are finally starting to thaw.

The vaccine is coming, slower than it should, but at least people are getting shots. Schools are opening, at least part time. Bars and gyms are opening, at least in small doses. Sporting events will have fans, at least until they can’t.

These “green shoots” aren’t by any means a “return-to-normal,” but as economic activity and freedom of movement finally start to wiggle out of the grip of lockdown, I see a few positive signs.

It’s been a year since businesses started feeling the ramifications of COVID (in the US at least). It’s time to start thinking about the next 12 months. When it comes to what’s going to happen across entrepreneurship, at a high level, here’s what my peers are telling me.

Work and life will continue to blur, but in a better way

There has been a huge increase in the number of entrepreneurs starting businesses over the last 12 months. One of the reasons I believe this trend will continue over the next 12 months is that it was an acceleration of another trend that was already in play: People are realizing that you need a job that provides the kind of satisfaction you’re looking for in life. We’ve spent 12 months bringing work into our lives. Entrepreneurship beings life to work.

We’ll need to rethink our companies and make them stronger

You’re going to see a lot of emphasis on rebuilding company structure and culture, which for a lot of startups has been on life support for a year. Both culture and structure are going to look very different than they did in 2019.

This isn’t the end of the crisis, nor is it the last crisis we’ll experience. We’ll want to make sure some of the deeper cuts don’t happen again. For startups, there will be a greater emphasis on talent, efficiency, and value, less emphasis on hype, press, and potential.

We’ll continue to pursue a greater sense of individual autonomy

Yes, we’re all in this together, but we’ve never seen more frequent and more painful breakdowns of the structures we’ve all come to depend on. A lot of us have been on our own islands for much longer than we’re used to, and we’ve learned to survive and thrive.

What does all this mean?

We’re going to see a new kind of entrepreneurship emerge over the next 12 months. Well, maybe not a new kind, but a new emphasis on a kind that’s been under the radar for too long.

Entrepreneurs are going to put more time and effort into creating opportunities for themselves and for others. We’re no longer going to be satisfied with being a part of someone else’s status quo, because that status quo keeps proving over and over again how broken it is.

We’re going to hear “disrupt” less and “democratize” more. We’re going to hear “side-hustle” less and “start my own company” more.

More first-timers are going to start and grow real companies, with the talent and experience they already have and the tools they can get their hands on. They’re going to MVP, they’re going to experiment, and they’re not going to go broke doing it. They’re going to make sure they deliver value from the beginning.

At the same time, more experienced entrepreneurs are going to be able to grow their companies more quickly, do more with less, and end up owning more of their own ventures. Profit will become the new capital.

Teaching Startup is positioned to help grow this new evolution of entrepreneurism as the economic thaw continues. It’s an affordable weekly newsletter and app that delivers advice and answers for just $10 a month, or less than 1% of the cost of a traditional advisor.

You can see for yourself and try it for free for 30 days. Use invite code THAW and you can get your first month after the trial for just $5. If you want to cancel, you can do that from any email.

Teaching Startup is built on the independence of entrepreneurship, the belief that anyone can do this, and that no one stops learning while they do it. But I wouldn’t call it disruptive. I’d call it democratization.

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