Finding the right people

I just read on Google News the state of the economy in the US. 663,000 job losses in March. Read the article here. It did not mention total unemployment. But it said one in four were long term unemployed and gave 3.2 million for that number, so I'm guessing around 12 million total unemployed. 

In other news at the Strage Innovation Awards the multimillionaires were talking about the economy and one had a daughter at Duke MBA school and said that the number of recent graduates that couldn't find a job was 58% which was the highest total for new graduates ever. The previous high had been 8%. 

Another statistic: in 2007 about 2.1 million people in the US did traditional/ice/alpine climbing, which is what I do. So I'm hoping that I can find someone of the 2.1 million that is one of those people skilled in what I am not like selling and business stuff and finding start-up funding. I don't know that there is any "free" money to be had now from investors like during a good economy but I'm sure there are banks willing to lend at good rates now. In the case of taking out a loan it means that I would be able to retain a much larger share of ownership, but I would also have to succeed. I haven't started looking for a business partner outside of friends yet and I probably won't until I defend my thesis and graduate and write a business plan, but in this economy I'm confident that I will be able to find someone with the right blend of skills.