Reinventing Business
The pandemic was the tipping point for many. It forced individuals and businesses into introspection and a pivot. Businesses that were already flexible in their operations did well. Not surprisingly, technology companies excelled in profits, with Apple, Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Tencent in the top five earners (see Insider Monkey for details). Tesla was also in the top five. However, many industries experienced severe business impacts due to prolonged lockdowns and preventative measures like vaccinations and masking.
The retail sector was especially hard hit. For example, restaurants, airlines, tour operators, the film industry, manufacturing, and retail suffered monetarily. However, several sectors quickly adapted. Retail stores invested heavily in e-commerce platforms, and the film industry integrated artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality. Restaurants pivoted to delivering food to households, and education turned to technology to enable online learning. Thus, while the pandemic challenged and crushed businesses worldwide, it fuelled rapid change for sustainable growth.
My business was no exception during the pandemic. The pandemic afforded me an opportunity for reinvention. I went from consulting and teaching to editing and writing, from onsite and online interactions to less in-person interaction and repurposing insightful recommendations gleaned through my consulting and teaching work. Making this switch during the pandemic was not difficult, but one does not need a crisis like a pandemic to orchestrate a new direction. The keys are technology, persistence, and capitalizing on experience.
If you want reinvention, here are a few things to consider.
Technology. Whatever your focus, you will likely need technology to help you. Technology includes online customer orders/communication/interaction platforms, friendly websites, social media, electronic equipment, computers, etc. If you don’t already have one, create a greater Internet presence. Snail mail and old-school manual typewriters just don’t cut it anymore.
Products and Services. What products and/or services are currently not selling well for you? Consider revamping those to attract or maintain customers. Remember Blockbuster? Not many do because Blockbuster failed to reinvent itself regularly to keep pace with market demands. Use the 80/20 rule to determine which 20% of your marketing efforts produce 80% of your results. Then tweak the 20% for a radical shift in your business.
Demographics. Perhaps your products and services are good but only reach a specific demographic. Therefore, focus on your 20% bestsellers, and modify them to suit a new demographic. For example, try adjusting your marketing messaging to target the younger generations. Hire a social marketing expert if you don’t have expertise in-house. Don’t struggle with tasks that are not in your realm of expertise. Outsource to save time and money and achieve superior results.
What’s in a Name? A new business name reflecting your unique business focus might work for you. A new name, signage, website, and tagline could do wonders to reflect the new you and your new business focus. In my case, I worked under a corporate name as a consultant but shifted to my personal name as an author.
Value Proposition. Given all the above points, the most important is heeding how your product or service will help your customer. How will your customer be better off by purchasing your product or service? What customer problem does your product or service solve? Once you have that answer, you can create a targeted marketing plan (i.e., who is your customer, and how will you reach them?) to help turn your new business into a profitable venture.
Finally, I suggest not being afraid. From my experience, I have found that fear keeps people in place and prevents growth at individual, group, business, and community levels. People might be afraid to refocus because they become comfortable with what they know. They also fear losing more money by pivoting to a new business model—all fair points. There is a chance that your new business will not succeed. There is also a chance that your new business will succeed, but it might take months or years to see the reward. Only you can decide whether you can or will take that opportunity.
In addition, change is hard. Change is very hard. If fear and aversion to change drive your life, I suspect you view new ventures as problems (i.e., gosh, look at all the stuff I need to do to reinvent) rather than opportunities (i.e., wow, this new business model might just work!).
Change your perspective to change your life. Reinvention and innovation are the spice of life, within reason, of course.
