Mind The Recession

Having received results of endless formalities mentioned in this post, in the last few weeks I have been trying to shape the mold of my life for the coming few years.

In addition to allowing myself to decay in a series of super boring accounting classes as part of my newly started PhD curriculum, last week I was in the UK to deal with some formalities (again - ouch!) which unfortunately came bundled with the granted work permit.

London looks as busy as always. Not much seemed to change since my last visit a year ago; Oxford Street is as chaotic, tube stations still look like as hectic as an ant nest. Sun shined unusually brightly all through my stay making people flood to parks turning Hanover Square -where our new office building is located- into a lunch time festival area.


As soon as one starts talking with people however, traces of recession begin to appear. What I have found particularly interesting was the reaction I received from people - mostly officers from governmental institutions or banks - when I told them that we were in the UK to start-up our own company. Omitting few topic specific differences here and there, the conversations looked almost the same wherever I went:

DK: Hello, I'm here on a Tier 1 visa and would like to register my UK address/open a UK bank account/file a health record/etc etc...
Officer: Certainly. (a very evident doubt appears on the face) Did you already find a job or are you yet to find one?
DK: I'm here to start-up a subsidiary of my own company in Turkey.
Officer: (The face expression changes completely with an awe) Oh marvelous. In this country we need more investors and new jobs nowadays.

Well...

Not best time to start a business in the UK - that is for sure. I must admit however that all this recession thing amplifies the sense of adventure and makes the whole idea more likable. Of course, our decision is based on strategical business/personal reasons that we think are more sound than mere suicidal romanticism.

We'll see.