New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

Question

I am an out-of-work IT director that cannot seem to land another job and I'm planning ahead for the worst while looking for ways to avoid that eventuality, however likely it may be.  I'm in my fifties and I know from experience that finding more work anywhere near my own field will probably take a long time.  I'm looking everywhere I can for ideas, thoughts, direction, anything that might help provide the wisdom that comes from a multitude of counselors.  I don't think franchising is something even to consider, nor are we likely to be in a position to buy a business. Have you any advice or suggestions?  If I could come up with a family business that could keep us together and clothed and housed and fed, I'd be more than delighted! May the Lord deeply bless you in your efforts.

Answer

Thanks for contacting us.  I understand your situation, but without more details about you, it is difficult to answer with a great deal of specifics, but here is a Q&A post that should help give you a framework for coming up with some ideas.  Once you've listed out all of your spiritual gifts, skills, abilities, experiences, training, etc., hopefully you can start to come up with some scenarios that match up with current needs.  Here is another Q&A post that addresses the type of needs that are currently in high demand.
 
The best opportunities for you to focus on will leverage as many of your skills, abilities, experiences, etc., as well as meet a real need in your area that is easy to identify, sell and deliver at a decent margin.  Once you've come up with a few scenarios, I would just go out and get a customer of two to see if it works prior to making a huge investment of time, energy and money into the idea. You can further refine each idea by using our online Venture Analysis tool.