Having spent the last few weeks travelling around the USA, where businesses of all shapes and sizes are doing it tough, I noticed one very positive upside – business owners have become hungry again and that hunger has inspired creativity, particularly in the small business sector.
During a visit to the restaurant strip at Monterey Bay I came across a lady sitting outside a restaurant with a steaming cauldron of Clam Chowder, offering free samples to people walking by. She had certainly attracted a crowd and the Chowder was great. None of the other restaurants close by were doing anything like this – but which restaurant do you think was full? Clearly this proactive stance was working for this restaurant and I am sure that this initiative was inspired by a tourist downturn and an over supply of restaurants in the area.
As much as we can complain about tough times they really do get us out of our comfort zone. In other words tough times really motivate us to try new ideas, get creative, go the extra mile, look after our existing customers and most importantly of all, become innovative.
I came across this quote recently, and it really sums up what I feel is a key to business success – “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin.
I am seeing a new generation of innovative businesses evolving out there. People are doing really smart things. They are hungry for new business. They are trying very hard to make sure they treat their customers the way they deserve to be treated. They are shrewd, they are embracing technology and they are having fun. And I have no doubt that many of them will be very successful.
The risk for those of us who have been running our businesses for a long time is that we don’t change or evolve, especially as the economy picks up. If we let complacency slip in, if we think we can just keep doing things the same way as we always have – look out.
Now is the time to rethink how we all do business. There are signs indicating that the economy is turning for the better and we need to start planning for the future. We need to have learned from the tough times, we need to be lean, we need to be smart and we need to be evolving into the “new” business that is going to be hugely successful in the coming years.
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