Navigating Uncharted Waters: Independence Day Edition: Celebrating our Independence from the COVID-19 Pandemic and the rise of the courageous COVID-preneur
Happy Independence Day! This year, that warmth you’re feeling might not be just the bright sunshine that we have been missing for so long. It might be the sudden optimism many Americans are experiencing as we declare our independence from the Covid-19 pandemic that has taken so many lives and disrupted so many livelihoods.
We would be remiss if we did not sympathize with and continue to aid all those afflicted by the crisis from which we are slowly emerging. The COVID-19 pandemic brought along disastrous effects on the economy. Unemployment rates in America were 14.7 per cent in April 2020, the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The pandemic also led to a dramatic decline in household spending, a decrease of 8.7 per cent from February to March of 2020, the largest month-to-month decrease since the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking this type of data. For all these reasons, while the COVID-19 pandemic itself has mostly abated, its effects have certainly left us in a great economic valley with much work to be done before we emerge into better times.
While the overarching effects of COVID-19 on the economy were negative, one glimmer of light in the darkness was the rise of the so-called “COVID-preneur.” For many people, COVID led to the pursuit of their longtime dream of opening their own businesses. Despite the quarantine, optimistic Americans seeking new opportunities have been filing new business applications at a rate of approximately 84,000 per week, the fastest rate since 2007. Nearly 4.5 million business applications were filed in 2020, the highest number on record, according to an analysis of Census data. (see https://www.cbsnews.com/news/business-formation-surged-last-year-confounding-expectations/ ) Many of these hopeful new entrepreneurs were left with no other choice. Some, including gig-economy workers and other independent contractors, were laid off or saw their source of income evaporate entirely. Others left secure situations because they saw what many are seeing now — that the post -COVID-19 economic recovery spells a tremendous opportunity for those with the courage and fortitude to seize it. Whatever the reasons and circumstances, if you are one of these courageous individuals willing to defy the comfort of convention and launch your vision at a time when many others think you are insane, we celebrate you today and offer our help, as we are cut from the same cloth. We also share your optimism that far better days are ahead.
Like an experienced sailor after a storm, many existing businesses like ours have weathered serious economic volatility during their time in the stream of commerce. Those businesses instinctively sensed the coming boom and positioned themselves accordingly. However, several empirical data points support our instinct.
Over the past few months, business investments and retail sales have risen and unemployment claims have fallen. Consumers nationwide have decreased their credit card debt and increased their reserves through a combination of lockdown-related savings and stimulus payments. Some economists forecast 6.8 per cent economic growth, a metric of recovery that took eight years to achieve after the last recession. Some especially optimistic economists have compared the coming boom to the period after the Second World War; where consumers deprived of goods due to economic disruption were suddenly flush with adequate supply and the cash to buy them.
(See https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/business/economy/pandemic-economic-boom.html and https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-24/coronavirus-recession-it-will-be-a-lot-like-world-war-ii).
Founding a business during a time of economic adversity also has its own advantages. Like all businesses founded during economic downturns, COVID-preneurs will learn skills and adopt priorities that can make them wildly successful following recovery. While our experience pales in comparison to the struggles of the recent pandemic, some of the similarities are instructive. I founded our firm in 2014, after graduating into the tail-end of one of the worst legal job markets in American history. Back then, commentators decried a legal education as a generally poor investment. Many disaffected law graduates actually brought class action suits against their law schools, because they believed fraud was the best explanation for the difference between their pre-law school expectations and their post-law school reality. Many others took jobs in public service, retail, or other non-legal jobs rather than risking the uncertainty of hanging a shingle.
I will admit my own confidence in my decision to pursue my passion for the law was shaken during the last recession. Sequestration ended my life-long dream to serve as a Judge Advocate General three days after I arrived for training. A year later, a dream job offer in Washington, D.C., evaporated due to a sudden change in funding priorities. Thereafter, several rejections for legal jobs were followed by offers with salaries so low I was confident I would be better off going back into the political work I had done prior to law school.
All of these setbacks notwithstanding, I did not fall into the same trap that ensnared many of my fellow millennials. Coming from a long line of entrepreneurs, I bet on myself and my strong belief that, despite being fresh out of law school, I could create sufficient value for my community to sustain a business. I resolved that the firms that had rejected me for being unwilling to slave away in their systems for insufficient pay would one day have to face me as a competitor. I vowed that I would challenge the model which left so many small and mid-sized businesses without quality representation.
Seven years later, I and my team have built a firm that has accomplished all that and more. We invested in people with the same mission as us: to focus on value creation rather than revenue generation. We learned to ride out storms by working with our clients and maintaining expectations appropriate to our market segment rather than chasing short term gains inconsistent with our core values. But more than anything, we learned we are not special. The clients we have helped along the way have the same grit, determination and discipline needed to dedicate themselves to an ideal and achieve results. If you are willing to do the same, your time has come.
At a time when our economy has suffered two once-in-a-generation disruptions, many Americans, especially millennials, are currently worse off than their parents at the same age and concerned they are doomed to stay there. The coming boom represents an opportunity for all of us to climb out of the darkness that has marked more than a decade. For millennials especially, this time in our lives presents a choice. We can accept a fate of mediocrity and lowered expectations or we can break that mold, disrupt markets, and reinvent our circumstances into a more sustainable and impactful reality.
More than anything, my hope for our generation is that we embrace the truth that we can be as impactful as we resolve to be and seize the opportunity represented by the self-employed lifestyle. Do you have a community or cause you want to serve? There has never been a better time to build a business to serve them. And contrary to the world’s constant negative talk, you can do so without sacrificing your values. Our competition is less hopeful about our future prospects. They have called us “the worst generation” and lamented how our changing habits have destroyed industries and defied conventions. This unpredictability and breaking with convention could be an asset if it were utilized in the marketplace, but unfortunately our response to our critics has been inconsistent.
Many of us lament that the college degree was not the secret to success we were told it would be and the current numbers back up that realization. However, our destiny is not determined by this truth, but rather how we respond to it. If we accept individual responsibility for learning how to create value by serving our ideals above all else, then the coming boom represents a golden opportunity to reinvent the American economy. To achieve this, we must jettison the risk aversion and fatigue many of us have embraced. I know from experience that the best among us are already doing this. The latest round of ambitious COVID-preneurs are the newest to the party, but there is room for you, too!
Since no Independence Day blog post would be complete without a quote from the Declaration of Independence, I will close this post with an inspiring thought from the same. When the founding generation encountered abuses and unfair treatment from Britain, they were willing to risk everything to establish a new system consistent with their ideals. When their pleas for independence were met with tyrannical oppression, they united around the following immortal words:
“When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
There may never be a better opportunity to reinvent ourselves and provide new guards for our future security than the year that follows. Many will declare their independence and take the plunge to start their own unique businesses.
As you read this, many of you are standing at the brink of decision. Do you cling to the safety of mediocrity or jettison the mundane in favor of that passion you have always wanted to pursue. Whether it is necessity or creativity that compels you to charter your own ship against the tide of uncertainty, our firm is confident we can help you build your vision and secure it for the future. We are confident of this because seven years ago we stood in your shoes, we succeeded, and we know that with the proper vision and guidance you can and will do the same. If seven years from now you want to be standing at the helm of your own ship, leading a team of individuals united around delivering your unique and valuable offering to the community, we applaud you. Moreover, we ask you to consider that while many businesses have been founded this, the only one’s who will survive their first seven years will be those that adequately protected their vision. If you want assistance in securing what you have built for the future then we want to be your law firm!
That is why we are offering free thirty minute consultations for new businesses who contact us and mention this post between now and August 1, 2021! Consultations will be scheduled on a first-come first-served basis until our calendar is full so please contact us today using the link above or call us at 757-227-5030 and our friendly team will get you in our calendar!
If you have a vision to chart your own course, there has never been a better time; and we hope you will let us join your team and help you navigate uncharted waters.
Good luck and God speed!
DISCLAIMER: NOT LEGAL ADVICE. FOR INFORMATION ONLY. DO NOT RELY ON ANY ADVICE YOU RECEIVE ON THIS FORUM. Legal advice comes after a complete review of the facts and relevant documents. An attorney-client relationship, with all the privileges associated with it, can only be formed through a written engagement letter which cannot occur in this forum. Mr. Howell is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia only and his thoughts are rooted in Virginia Law or general legal principles, not any other specific state’s laws. You should speak with an attorney licensed in your state, to whom you have provided all facts before you take steps that may impact your legal rights.
