Find a need and fill it
Never has that business mantra ever carried so much weight. Find a need and fill it. The world is changing and shifting perceptibly every day, every minute, every second it seems. What was normal on January 1st this year is entirely different now and will most likely change again soon.
So, what are you going to do about it? Sit around and complain that it’s all gone? Or — figure out where your “it” has moved. I’m sorry the late author, Dr. Spencer Johnson, is not around to see his book come to life. Who Moved My Cheese? could not be a better metaphor for what is happening right now. If you haven’t read it, it is a must. If you have, revisit it.
The short version? Things change. Change with them. The end.
Here are some examples of companies and solo entrepreneurs who have taken stock and pivoted without waiting to see what happens next or wishing things were “the way they used to be.”
Even my speeches and workshops on success and networking are all done online in flipflops these days. It’s like when I was in radio, I knew change was imminent. I knew my shelf life as a female rock and roll air personality was not going to last as long as the men I worked with. It was just a fact of the business at the time (and still is).
So, I started thinking about what I would do next long before I had to. I made the contacts, I networked, I did for others, and it eventually paid off over the years. It was damn scary at first, leaving the only industry I had ever worked in for 20+ years.
In hindsight, it is the best thing that ever happened to me. Getting kicked out of that nest and my comfort zone forced me to move in another totally different direction.
The pandemic has kicked many out of their comfortable nest.
Listen, observe, read, ask, watch – then find a need and fill it.