What are you doing to change what you must to differentiate what you are offering? There will be no “return to the old”. What there will be is ongoing disruption.
Whenever this year - and it won’t be soon - we can start to mix freely again we will have entered a new era. When cars replaced horses everyone stopped asking for faster horses. And since then cars have just got better and better.
It will be this way again. But if you supply saddles and farrier services you better adapt pretty quickly. If you can get a slice of the burgeoning automobile industry start planning for growth.
Here’s why
- Both strengths and weaknesses are exacerbated in a crisis and there has been a ‘cleansing’ of the weakest businesses;
- Consumers are spending again, particularly online, and are dictating the buying process;
- People are saving money, realising that having too little cash on hand was disastrous for individuals and businesses;
- There is a vacuum in several industries. Nature hates a vacuum and will quickly fill it with new products, services and distribution methods;
- Strong businesses will thrive and adapt, and entrepreneurial businesses will exploit the opportunities in markets with lower barriers to entry.
The question will be whether you are a disrupter or among the disrupted. Businesses that have done this already are thriving. It’s not too late to join them, but it is running out. And if you think a small shift or tweak of your business model is enough you are probably
wrong.
If you need someone to challenge your thinking you know where I am.
Good luck; fortune will favour the brave this year like never before.
Noel Guilford