The Recession's Accidental Entrepreneurs (SLIDESHOW)

HuffPost's Eyes & Ears     First Posted: 11/10/09 05:12 AM ET   Updated: 05/25/11 03:00 PM ET

The recession has put thousands of people out of work, creating a new class of accidental entrepreneurs. Whether by ingenuity or just plain luck, many of newly unemployed have formed their own small businesses as a result of the shrinking job pool.

Last week, we asked readers to share their stories of becoming an accidental entrepreneur and today we made a slideshow of your submissions. Please note, the slides and captions were submitted by readers and not the editors of the Huffington Post.

Green Retirement Guru
RetireGreen:I began developing Green Retirement, a new retirement planning formula and method that calculates the positive financial benefit living a green lifestyle has on a person's retirement savings needs, in an effort to save monkeys in Costa Rica.



In 2003 I left a career in corporate banking to start a small hotel in Costa Rica. My fellow Americans soon followed me to Costa Rica, using their housing bubble money, to build McMansions in paradise. Real estate developers began tearing down the rain forest to build retirement properties for Americans. I developed Green Retirement as a way to encourage Americans to choose a low consumption lifestyle.
comments(40)
Rate This Photo
(Current Rank: loading...)
Don’t throw out your resume
Ingenious!
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Now Make Your Own Top 5
Average rating: loading... out of 10
Current Top 5 Slides
loading...
 | Become a fan
Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow
Share Your Top 5 Slides
Users Who Voted on this Slide
loading...
loading...
HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides:
«»
 | Become a fan
Share Your Top 5 Slides
Read More: Recession , Slidepoll , Unemployment , The Recession , Accidental , Accidental entrepreneur , Accidental entrepreneurs , Entrepreneur , Entrepreneurship , Small business , Social entrepreneurship Business News
 

FOLLOW HUFFPOST BUSINESS

The recession has put thousands of people out of work, creating a new class of accidental entrepreneurs. Whether by ingenuity or just plain luck, many of newly unemployed have formed their own small ...
The recession has put thousands of people out of work, creating a new class of accidental entrepreneurs. Whether by ingenuity or just plain luck, many of newly unemployed have formed their own small ...
Read more from Huffington Post bloggers:
Krisztina Holly

Krisztina Holly: Understanding The Heartbeat Of The Economy

There is a common image of entrepreneurs being young renegades that aren't polluted by old ways of thinking. They come into a new industry, with no former biases, and turn it upside down.
Carl J. Schramm

Carl J. Schramm: Join the Entrepreneurs' Movement That Launches Today: A "Cause" for our Economy

While Americans understand that entrepreneurs are critical to economic growth, our national dialogue doesn't include comprehensive discussion of policies that promote private sector, job-creating reform.

What's Your Reaction?
Inspiring
 Greedy
 Typical
 Scary
 Outrageous
 Amazing
 Innovative
 Infuriating