The Illusion of Entrepreneurial Stability is Fading Fast Today

Over the last few years, entrepreneurs have been ravaged by lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, shifting consumer habits, and even labor shortages. This devastated countless businesses in the process. For those that survived, their very survival was at stake, and the situation looked grim.

When things finally seemed like they were getting back to normal, a cautious sense of optimism started to grow for entrepreneurs. They thought maybe the worst was over. Maybe it was time to scale again, hire more aggressively, or launch that long-delayed project.

But just under the surface, new risks were quietly bubbling up.

Consumer spending is softening as inflation eats away at purchasing power. Credit card debt is at an all-time high. Layoffs are quietly rolling through every sector. Interest rates remain elevated, making capital harder and more expensive to access.

It’s not a full-blown crisis—yet, but it’s not exactly calm waters either.

And if history is any guide, this is often the moment when the real test begins.

Markets don’t have to crash for a business to falter. Subtle shifts in demand, cash flow delays, or increased competition can destabilize even seasoned entrepreneurs. That’s why those who have weathered past downturns are raising the alarm now: the next chapter may not be as forgiving.

What you do today—how you prepare, where you cut, who you lean on—may determine whether you emerge from this stronger…or not at all.

Business is about to become a contact sport

In good times, competition is tough. In bad times, it turns brutal. Consumers tighten their wallets, and businesses start making harder choices about who to work with. That means fewer dollars in circulation—and more people fighting over them.

David Bell knows exactly how cutthroat things can get. As CEO of USA Mobile Drug Testing, he watched his business plummet. Bell’s company, once booming, saw its revenue nosedive.

He hit back with a full-force PR offensive. Bell put himself out there—writing for trade publications, speaking to the media, showing up on social media, and becoming more active in his industry’s top organizations.

“We started getting my name in the media everywhere we could,” he said. “I shared my knowledge and insight in industry publications, as well as local and national news outlets. I got more active on social media. I even began getting involved in key industry organizations. All of this built a powerful and irrefutable impression of me and my company.”

Bell’s business recovered and expanded, landing contracts with Fortune 500 firms, major sports organizations, and government agencies. He was even named to the board of his industry’s most influential trade group.

Bell says that kind of calculated aggression isn’t optional in today’s business environment—it’s required.

“You can’t be passive,” he warned. “You have to meet it head-on with overwhelming force before it has a chance to gain momentum.”

You need better data to make better decisions, faster

The internet gives entrepreneurs access to an unprecedented amount of information, and while the amount of information has grown exponentially over the last two decades, it’s started growing even faster in recent years.

As more information is published, both in terms of volume and frequency, more opportunities sprout up for smart and proactive entrepreneurs. Data on consumer spending, migration, financial markets, corporate relocation, and trending topics, for example, can offer valuable insight that entrepreneurs can capitalize on. And today, AI makes it easier than ever to analyze that data at scale and use it to make better decisions that give you a competitive advantage.

“We’re living in an era where businesses are drowning in data but starving for decisions. For example, in real estate alone, over 165 million U.S. property records exist—each with thousands of attributes, from ownership and zoning to permits, equity, and risk triggers. The challenge isn’t access. It’s relevance! That’s where AI comes in. At SIFTR, we built our own platform specifically to move beyond raw data delivery. We use AI to filter out noise, interpret patterns across legal, financial, and behavioral layers, and reveal only the highest-fit opportunities for each user. It’s not about more data—it’s about better decisions, faster. And that only happens when AI understands the real-world goals of the person asking the question,” says Alicia Jarrett, co-founder of SIFTR.

It’s not the data itself that’s useful, though. While there’s an inconceivable amount of data available today, most of it is useless. The key here is to first determine what data is likely to create some kind of advantage in your business, and then determine where to find it, how to compile and analyze it, and finally, how to use it in your business. That last part is the key because while we’re drowning in data, what’s often missing is the insight needed to make actionable decisions.

One example that I find fascinating is where traders in the financial services industry started using satellite photos of retail parking lots over time to predict revenue before quarterly earnings reports. By analyzing the traffic patterns and comparing them to previous earnings calls to get the jump on other investors, they’re able to make more consistent and profitable investing decisions.

There are millions of potential data points that entrepreneurs and investors can use to create more stability and generate greater profits, Jarrett says. And as the founder of a company that does exactly that, she has a unique perspective. Garrett’s company compiles millions of real estate data points and then uses AI to analyze that data, helping investors identify the right opportunities far earlier than their competitors.

“We work with over 2,000 attributes per property, spanning ownership history, loan position, equity levels, permit activity, zoning overlays, and even life event triggers like probate or divorce. This depth allows us to deliver more than just static records—we provide real-time, role-specific, and deal-specific intelligence. For investors, that means we don’t just show them what’s available—we show them what fits. Whether it’s identifying entitled land for development, equity-rich homeowners for cash-out loans, or off-market multifamily assets with upside potential, our AI maps investor goals to qualified, verified opportunities—automatically. Every result is pre-scored for risk, freshness, and relevance, so decision-makers move faster with confidence,” she explains.

Companies that fail to capitalize on opportunities that the wealth of data available today and AI’s ability to analyze that data at scale can create will lose ground to those that do. Experts compare this to the necessity to have a website or a social media presence over the last two decades. Right now, this is a superpower that provides a tremendous competitive advantage, but within a few years, every entrepreneur will need to leverage this strategy because it will be essential to survival.

Jarrett advises, “Start with the outcome, not the data. Too many entrepreneurs get stuck gathering data and information without a clear end goal. Instead, we get them to ask: What decision am I trying to make? What action needs to follow? From there, identify the signals that matter—whether it’s equity levels, loan terms, ownership duration, or market velocity. The right data is the data that correlates directly with the result you’re targeting. Next, choose the right access model. Building your own stack is slow and expensive. Leasing structured, validated data—as we do via tokenized access—gets you to insight faster. Finally, integrate that intelligence into your workflows. Push it into your CRM, your outreach tools, or your underwriting systems. The value isn’t just in knowing—it’s in using.”

Your budget drives your business, not the other way around

Cash flow, budgets, profit margins—they matter now more than ever. The illusion of prosperity often masks weak financial practices, and when the economy shifts, that mask comes off fast.

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked,” Warren Buffett famously said. Many businesses found that out the hard way in 2020, when revenue dried up overnight and they were left holding piles of unnecessary expenses—especially bloated software and subscription costs.

Dr. David Phelps, a financial expert and entrepreneur, says too many business owners are operating in the dark when it comes to their books.

“Your budget is like the heart of your business, so it’s critical to know how it’s performing. This is always important, even in the best of times, but when the economy slows down, like it’s been doing over the last few years, it becomes absolutely critical. As revenue tightens and credit becomes more difficult to get, entrepreneurs have a smaller margin for error,” Phelps explains.

Step one, he says, is to separate the vital from the expendable.

“The first priority is to evaluate which parts of our budget are critical to the day-to-day operations of your business. These are the most important expenses that your business absolutely can’t run without. Next, you need to sort everything else by priority and cut non-essential expenses to leave plenty of margin at the end of each month. The idea is to build in some padding so that you can better weather the financial ups and downs.”

But trimming fat alone isn’t enough.

“The reality is there’s only so much you can cut, so it’s also critical to leverage software and processes to maximize efficiency as well. Learn how to do more with less, and once you’ve done that, you need to find new ways to generate additional revenue. More effective and larger-scale marketing is part of the equation, but it’s also important to create entirely new revenue streams. This might include new products or services, like memberships, coaching, or even software,” he added.

Efficiency and innovation are no longer luxuries. They’re lifelines.