walterj wrote:
+1 Ignorant, SVRex and Pete... I smell a rebirth of small machine, fabrication and product businesses to feed a new manufacturing boom here. Less manpower, more automation and tech - but a definite return to making things on US soil.
Dave, sorry to hear about your situation.
I was referring to the whole picture. My comments were as applicable to businesses both small and large as they were to job seekers. Everyone is going to have to re-think things.
I don't think the new opportunities for small businesses are going to look like they used to. They will now be much more deeply connected to bigger businesses.
Used to be, the essence of small business was a fierce sense of independence. That won't work anymore.
Big business isn't going anywhere, but they will be looking to scale back their expenses, and increase their government and international contracts.
So, the opportunity for small businesses will be to provide a service to big businesses that allow them to reduce costs. For example, specialty small companies can now function as subcontractors to bigger companies, enabling the bigger company to eliminate a department or division, saving them costs. The small companies will need 1 or 2 primary contracts with large companies to be their bread and butter.
It's very bad news to large quantities of employees currently working for big companies, but very good news for small businesses looking to fill a void for bigger companies.