Here on the Business In General blog, and at Bplans.com, we are committed to optimistic support of entrepreneurship and the startup and growth of business, especially small- and medium-sized businesses.

I’m not Pollyanna-ish about our business environment, however. It is unrealistic to think, or even hope, that a few short months of so-called recovery, including a pre-and-post-holiday spend-a-thon, can repair the damage caused by a decade of questionable high-finance economic activities. It is a time of despair for the tens of millions of people who have suffered the devastating impact of the current depression.

Still, humans are resilient, hence the old, often paraphrased saying, If I didn’t laugh, I’d surely cry. And with that sense of humor and appreciation of the absurd, comes opportunity. Despair.com is one company which has succeeded in business by encouraging us to poke fun at our adversities, to laugh, albeit cynically, when we are most suffering from social and economic hardship.

I discovered them early in the last decade when they released a series of Demotivational posters — humorous send-ups of those smarmy, pretentious posters that were supposed to make us all happy about working harder for less.

Since then they have added greeting cards, calendars, more Demotivator posters, laptop computer skins, t-shirts, a Pessimist’s “The-glass-is-half-empty” mugs and glassware, and more. This year they are offering “The Rise of Mr. Ponzi“, the long-suppressed autobiography of Charles Ponzi, the great-granddaddy of financial and investment wizards.

Despair.com has shown that opportunity and success are possible, when the prospects seem worst, even as they busily make fun of their own industriousness and schadenfreud. Go to Despair.com. Look over their site and their offerings. If you cry, it could be because you are laughing so hard.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

We all know times are tough. But that doesn’t mean you have to wait for a better economic climate to make the career move you’ve  been thinking of.

When a Springfield, Oregon woman lost her job at the corporate headquarters of a temp agency, she took advantage of the opportunity. Within hours of filing for unemployment, she was signed up as a distributor for a company that makes recycled paper products. She was able to take her misfortune and combine it with her long-standing interest in sustainability, with the result being a whole new career.

Talk about finding the silver lining.

As more companies cut back, more people are going to find themselves in this kind of position. Seeing it as a chance to follow your passion will not only help you weather a difficult situation, but can lead to greater financial, and personal, rewards.

But why wait for the axe to drop to make a change?

Jay Snider
Customer Care Specialist