Time Out – Wintercircus

Voordat het theater gereed is, wordt er eerst een flinke verbouwing uitgevoerd. Een ronde piste met zaagsel, een orkestbak boven de piste ingang en ontelbaar veel lampjes maken dit tot een echte circusbeleving.
Acrobaten halen halsbrekende toeren uit, dresseurs laten pony’s gracieus bewegen en wanneer de clowns opkomen, gaat er van alles mis. Kortom, de show is een echt klassieke circusvoorstelling. Zeker wanneer je de klinkende artiestennamen hoort zoals je die alleen in het circus tegenkomt. Zo zijn daar onder meer Francesco de Clown, de Chinese acrobaten Zhang Zhao en Cao Junpeng en het Oekraiense slangenmens Taras Nadtochiy.

Het Wintercircus toert vanaf december tot eind januari door Nederland. Dit weekend is de op een na laatste voorstelling in Theater de Veste. De voorstelling is geschikt voor de hele familie. Voor enthousiaste kinderen zijn er voorafgaand aan de voorstelling circusworkshops. Hier kunnen ze onder professionele begeleiding veilig oefenen met bijvoorbeeld jongleren en acrobatiek.

Wintercircus Martin Hanson, 22 januari 19.00 uur, 23 januari 13.00 en 16.15 uur in Theater de Veste. Kaarten 16,50 euro (jeugd 13,50)

www.theaterdeveste.nl

‘Do not worry, everything is under control. Sounds like something politicians say during press conferences, doesn’t it? In fact, this was the last thing Saddam Hussein’s Information Minister said on TV just hours before Baghdad fell. Well, at least he didn’t lie. Everything was under control, he just forgot to say ‘but not under our control!’
Somehow the same story is happening now in our economic world. Leaders give speeches saying there’s nothing to worry about, there are enough reserves to save the finance and manufacturing sectors. Yet every morning news about companies facing bankruptcy gives us a good wake-up kick. Can’t someone at least try to be sincere and let investors know if it’s a time to panic or not? Of course, we know the housing market is in a bad shape and the economy less stable than Microsoft Windows. We see companies struggling – the stock market numbers don’t lie at least. Yet, should we really worry about the current situation?
If you’re not an investor, you don’t have too much to worry about. And if you’re a wanna-be-entrepreneur, then, in fact, this whole saga is good motivation to become one, and here’s why. You wake up in the morning, switch on the news and hear that another mega company went bankrupt and there are now another 80-something thousand workers on the market looking for new jobs. What’s the first thought that goes through your head? ‘Hey, it’s a great time to start my career and look for a job?’ Or, ‘Oh oh, finding a job in this unstable market ain’t gonna be easy!’
Now, sure there are still some good opportunities out there for new jobs with good companies and the fat paychecks and interesting projects that come with them. But if you look at the situation with a little more reality-focused logic, last night you had 100,000 experienced competitors looking for jobs, and this morning you have 180,000 to compete against.
Hence, now is a great time to give yourself a chance to become an entrepreneur. Think of it as Plan B. Make some extra time in your daily schedule and dedicate it to looking for new opportunities in markets where you can positively contribute. Remember that brilliant idea you and some friends were talking about a couple months ago? The one that you could never bring yourself to work on seriously, because you thought you’d be better off finding a more stable, less risky occupation.  Well, that less risky occupation doesn’t really exist anymore, at least not for a while.
Finding ways to become an entrepreneur is mostly a passive process. Still, you should be able to find some smarter ways to automate your job-hunting process and free up more time. Looking for jobs doesn’t really taking all your free time anyway, even if you’re one of those people who go from page to page on company profiles; instead, think of ways to ‘outsource’ this process. Create a good CV, put it on the Internet, and then let the professional job-hunters fight to find you a job (and earn their bonuses!). This should give you a few hours of free time per week. Now, of course, if you aren’t smart enough, there are lots of ways to spend your valuable free hours. You can waste them by doing nothing for your future, or worse, you can attend one of those over-hyped ‘how-to-be’ workshops, and then spend hours recovering from all the mental damage you’ve got from wasting your time! Or think sharply and brainstorm with your friends and colleagues to test the feasibility of the idea you want to build your business on. Remember, many other people might also share your dream! This is how many entrepreneurs usually start. 
Whatever the case, make the best use of your free time, and instead of sitting around wondering why so many companies are falling like dominos, focus your energy on building your own company. After all, crisis is the best time to make improvements. Think ‘no crisis!’ Think ‘opportunity in disguise!’”

Fardad Zand, from Iran, is a PhD student in ‘Economics of Innovation’. Shahin Mesgarzadeh, also from Iran, is a technology consultant and TU Delft alumnus. Please send any comments and links to: biztalk4you@gmail.com.