Tough Times Means Time to Innovate!

I think we'd all agree that things seem pretty tough out there in the business world today.

In fact, many would think we have been hit with the perfect storm - recessionary like conditions, political uncertainty, growth in internet ecommerce, increased consumer saving, just to name a few.

However, as a business owner, you have choices available to you that will influence the outcomes that your business will provide you. These are simply:

1.    Do nothing and hope that the good times will return

2.    Try something different

Now there is an old saying that it is a sign of insanity in thinking that if you keep doing the same thing you'll get a different result! So, if you continue to do the same as before which was not working, you are most likely to get the same (or worse) result.

It is possible that we are in the process of an evolution in how we conduct business. The things we did in the past may no longer be effective or relevant to achieve success in the future. We live in a brave new world where we will need to continue to listen to customers and markets - in general look outside our business for strategies that will differentiate our business from the past and our competitors.

Of course, some of these strategies may fail so there is an element of risk involved! However, profit comes from risk and identifying winning strategies involves testing - in other words, not betting the house on one option.

So, what are you doing to be innovative?

Speaking about resistance to change - we strongly recommend the book "Who Moved My Cheese". This is a short, easy to read book about how change can sneak up on you and leave you exposed. For those who don't like reading, click below to view a short video:

The future is entirely in the hands of the person who looks in the mirror at you each morning!

Oh, and one more thing. You may also need to contemplate that when things are extremely difficult, then an appropriate action may be to get out. Industries and markets change - sometimes for good. And what was once a viable, thriving industry may no longer be. Examples would be typewriters, buggy whips, film cameras and processing, newspapers and video hire stores, just to name a few. The key is to know when to get out!

What are you doing differently than, say 5 years ago?