This is a serious question.
Do you really want business to get back to the way it was?
Business back the way it was represents no change, no learning from the last 8 months, no reflection on what Covid normal may look like, no consideration of societal change.
Whether we like it or not, things have changed.
- More businesses will allow more people to work from home, long after Covid, because of what they learned through Covid.
- More businesses will continue with less the in-person engagement with their customers learned through Covid long after Covid is dealt with.
- More businesses will sell to new people they discovered during Covid long after Covid.
- Plenty of businesses and individuals who cut costs during Covid will continue with a tighter focus on cash.
- Plenty of people who have worked from home will want to keep working from home.
Businesses that have benefited from these and similar Covid related changes will want that experience to continue rather than getting back to the way business was.
To me, the calls for business to get back to how it was are regressive. The future is always in front of us, never behind.
This is why I think that the businesses that have a good Covid are the ones best positioned for a brighter 2021 and beyond. They are most likely the businesses run by people who have not complained and moaned their way through Covid.
I get the calls to open up, get the economy moving and the like. However, for plenty, their economy has been moving. This is especially true in regional and rural Australia as well as in the high street.
It’s critical that all retailers are focussed on the (cliché alert) new normal of more people working from home, less CBD / business centre foot traffic, more online sales and the associated changes in what sells and when. That is where good business will be found, in those areas of change, not back the way things were.
The year presents us excellent opportunities for embracing change, leveraging what we have learnt since March this year and rapidly leaning into what we see emerge as I expect the pace of change to increase. This will be a consequence of Covid, what people have themselves learned through Covid and also a consequence of the Covid recession.
No, I am not looking for business to go back the way it was, I’m too busy looking to the future, which does look exciting.
No going back. It is as you suggest, the only way is forward.
this also means defending our position (Are Media) with suppliers and taking on board that we are in the pool and have to swim for are Met the Samal Business survival. No protection any more.
Met the Small Business minister NSW last night and gained much insight to the attitude they have and the positioning of where we need to be for the future. Landlords, Treasury encouragement as well as ATO deductiuons for progrees especially for IT and Digital expansion Much was said about the percentages of digital participation and at what level and all I can say is that we newsagents are at the low end of this more so in Rural and Regional NSW than the Big Smoke.
One famous Lady said. “If you have afoot in yesterday and the other in tomorrow -You are Pissing on Today)
I need to remind myself of this often as one tends to do things that are comfortable and not change for the better.
I was an encouraging and refreshing meeting from which I have embarked upon a new approach to my business.
Mark’s message is timely.
Spot on Mark. I might also add that this period has seen plenty of government support other than JobKeeper including a minimum $20k of employer cash boost subsidies as well as a number of smaller State Government Covid recovery grants. Instant asset write off deductions are another example.
Smart business owners have been using these additional funds to invest back into their businesses. They are now well positioned for the future.