Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2011, in the middle of Spain’s economic crisis, after the end of the property boom and amid mass unemployment; the “5 million jobs” reference and the forecasts of how long the crisis would last are from that time.
As some of you will already know, in other languages the word crisis means change (positive or negative), opportunity, the end of one stage and the beginning of another. The message we’ll try to get across is that a crisis doesn’t have to be negative; quite the opposite. It’s true, though, that when a crisis hits, a process of “natural” selection begins in which only those best able to embrace change and spot opportunities survive.
The biggest crisis the planet has ever known was the crash of 1929, although if we look back today, that year one era ended and the “industrial revolution” began. While people talked about the greatest stock market disaster in history, a few took advantage of that market fall to profit from the rise that came afterwards. While some were completely ruined, others got rich thanks to that Black Thursday on Wall Street. What’s more, the crisis of 1929 never ended, but as the years went by, people adapted.
Now we’re living through another crisis, one that has put an end to what we knew before: property speculation, runaway mortgage lending and unlimited construction. That era is over and is giving way to the start of a new one, which comes hand in hand with new technologies. Whatever your business, either you join this change or you die, as a company and even as a worker, because while unemployment is huge, new jobs are being created that very few people are prepared for. “Adapt or die.”
Some people wonder when this crisis will end. The answer is that there is no such thing as the crisis. In fact, what we’re calling a crisis will never end, not least because it has only just begun.
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We demand answers and action from our governments to get us out of this situation, but the reality, whether you want to accept it or not, is that they can’t get you out of it. What’s more, they’re also caught up in the same precarious situation, looking for ways to put the public finances back in order. The bad news is that they’ll try to do it with the citizens’ own money (although that’s normal and not today’s topic).
If you want to know how you got here, the answer is simple. You lived in a fantasy world, inside a dream, where you were given a “fictitious” standard of living built on credit. That dream is over, and when you wake up you realize you have to pay back that credit and pay the price for living beyond your means.
The word you hear most in times of crisis is “reinvent yourself“, because after a change in the system you need to change your outlook and your mindset, and certainly not sit around waiting for the government to pull off a magic trick: “Ta-da!!!! 5 million jobs.” Do you really expect that?
We will probably never see a construction boom like that one again, but you will find new business opportunities in home automation, services for the home, services for businesses and anything to do with technological advances. People are already talking about an internet bubble, but clearly this bubble has to be put to good use with everything you’ve already learned:
- Remember that every debt has to be paid.
- Don’t live beyond your means.
- Save and invest when you can.
- Know that everything that begins comes to an end.
- Know when to get in and when to get out, in time and in good shape.
And above all, learn to listen to our elders, who were already warning about the “crash” the country was heading for, even though none of them had studied economics or business.
Some say this crisis has 5 years left, or 3, or 10, but as I said at the start, whether you accept it or not, getting out of this crisis depends on no one but you and your ability to adapt to the new environment. It is neither better nor worse, just different, although it has caught you carrying a weight on your back, disoriented and poorly prepared. Let’s say you used to be a land animal, and after the terrible flood we all caused together, we’ll have to learn to swim, because nobody is going to take the extra water away.
Further reading
- Profitable business ideas
- Money as debt: a documentary
- Credit cards: the saver’s worst enemy
- The only secrets to getting rich: there are no others
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Featured image: Jon Robson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
