Crises can get the adrenaline flowing, sharpening minds to solve the problem at hand.
With stock markets rallying in response to the vaccine news from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the future looks brighter for business already. The first quarter will be challenging, though, as vaccine distribution plans still are at an early stage.
If the scientists are successful, we will reclaim our freedoms and socialize in groups again. We’ll also travel on planes, bump fists in conferences, and take creative risks. In short, we’re going to rediscover the joy of living.
So if you’re sitting at home armed with only a laptop and a great idea, we’ll discuss how you can embrace a business boom and the benefits of pivoting online.
The Road to Recovery
With the vaccine news, the economy has received a massive shot in the arm. Movie distributors and theater operators can now plan their summer schedules and promote new releases with ads.
Suppose you’re involved in the wedding industry, trading in catering supplies, dresses, beauty products, photography, gifts, music, or anything honeymoon related. You’ll have no shortage of customers wanting to get married next year.
Everyone’s just waiting for the all-clear from the scientists to start spending again. So things can only get better for face-to-face industries.
Leveling the Playing Field
While it’s been a tough six months financially, there’s been a surge of support for local firms since March, which has tapped into something deeper and community-driven.
There’s now a greater awareness of small businesses’ and how they’re essential to society as a whole.
G & L Milk Deliveries in northern England are a shining example of a community-led business, supplying food to families unable to get a delivery slot from big supermarkets. The demand for doorstep deliveries has soared this year, with milkmen and women acting as key workers, supplying fresh produce to rural communities.
Finding Your Big Idea
As we wait for the economy to bounce back, it’s important to remember that there’s never a bad time to have a big idea.
Businesses succeed when they identify a problem and create a product or service that solves it. So if your customers can’t come to you right now, you must go to them, and that’s what local bookstores have done.
Bookshop.org, which launched in the U.S. earlier this year, has been described as a “revolutionary moment in the history of bookselling.” It’s an independent alternative to Amazon, allowing indie bookshops to create their virtual store on the platform, receiving a 30% profit margin of each sale’s cover price.
The customer service and shipping duties are also handled by Bookshop and its distribution channels, making it easier for indies to compete with retail giants.
What’s Your Pivoting Story?
Successive lockdowns have forced businesses to look for new revenue streams, with 75% of retail companies now predicted to offer a subscription service by 2023.
Many founders have changed their business model, adapting to an economy no one could have foreseen.
From Bradford to Boston, there’s been no shortage of inspirational business tales in 2020.
- Delifresh, a U.K. specialty food supplier in Bradford, plans to keep its “virtual doors” open following its online store’s emergency launch. What started as a temporary stop-gap has snowballed into a 15,000 strong customer base across north-west England.
- Uprisers.World, a Los Angeles community-driven clothing brand that relied on in-person events to generate awareness of their campaigns, went to a 100% virtual model — collaborating with like-minded fashion partners to lend a voice to underrepresented communities.
- For TrillFit, a wellness center in Boston, Massachusetts, the forthcoming cold weather means they have to go online. With their classes now attracting people from 92 cities worldwide thanks to an inventive business plan, a local gym has become a global one.
Since the first lockdown, businesses worldwide have faced disruption, but this acceleration should no longer surprise anyone. Change is now the status quo.
It’s how you respond to it that counts.
Redefining Business Values
Amidst all the chaos, people have begun showing their appreciation for local businesses, especially those with ethical values.
The Farm at Byron Bay is an agricultural hub in New South Wales that supplies local restaurants and food stores. They have a shared mission to ‘grow, feed and educate,’ inspiring their local community to enjoy a more harmonious existence with nature.
How younger generations perceive businesses and spend their money is changing dramatically. Millennials and Gen Z increasingly care about broader issues such as sustainable packaging and climate change.
With this generational shift, you’ll soon find more startups like NÃM, founded by Natan Jacquemin in Lisbon, Portugal. His business looks upon waste as a sleeping asset and upcycles expired coffee grounds into fresh oyster mushrooms.
Sometimes the best solutions lie right in front of you.
Millennials Are Turning Forty
As millennials’ projected spending power increases to an estimated $14 trillion, they will be the largest contributor to the global economy for the next fifteen years.
It’s a seminal demographic shift that’s growing louder as their age and disposable income rises. There are currently more millennials on the planet than any other generation, and they have a lot of money to spend.
Younger generations are demanding more from companies and also taking control of them. These twin trends of demand and supply are colliding with each other, leading to creative combustion.
Nielsen asked 30,000 consumers in 60 countries about their feelings towards brands and how it impacted their buying behavior. An astonishing 73 percent of millennials (anyone born from 1977 to 1995) were willing to pay more for sustainable goods.
So if what you’re selling is good for the earth, the chances are the largest generational group will spend more on it.
The Future Belongs to You
As we’ve learned this year, the future doesn’t just happen by itself. It’s co-created by visionaries who act on their dreams and see opportunities where other people see nothing.
Business owners worldwide are using the pandemic to change how they trade — becoming more dynamic and giving back to their communities.
You, too, can embrace these shifting values, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve been working for a company or whether you’re just starting. Someone will use the events of 2020 in a life-changing way, so it might as well be you.
If you have a great idea for a new business, we can help you succeed with our #CreateFromHome program.
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Betting Big on a Business Boom in the 2020s .