Apparently I’m a Debbie Downer! I believe in preparing for the worst & living the best….
Call me what you’d like, I made it through 2008 without losing anything as a real estate investor…because I prepared. My clients also prepared! How did that happen?
I went searching from others who were smarter than me, & not just in real estate & business…I looked into economists & investors in multiple sectors to see what they understood, of what was going on in the economy in general. I didn’t take one thought process & run with it…I looked at many.
One thing I learned was how to become sustainable by preparing. As an investor, it became advantageous to hold off on purchasing property for a year or so. As a business owner it was imperative (like during 2020) to pivot into something that was an absolute need for the time being. I lost a couple of speaking opportunities April of 2020. I did not prepare for what happened. While other speakers were quickly learning the Zoom platform, I chose to become a W2 employee Consulting. Until things got figured out on a global basis.
It’s like the stock market. If you only invest in one type of stock, & that stock type plummets & you don’t have stock in anything else, yes, you will lose your shirt! However, if you have learned to diversify as a business owner, if one of your businesses slow, you have others to leverage from.
A couple of questions to think about in your sustainability:
– Cost per client:
How much do your clients actually invest in you? & what is your investment in them?
If you were investing in real estate & had a connection bring you someone who could fund a deal for you, & that person introduced you to 2 other funding partners, would that initial person have been a connection that was valuable to you? Of course.
In your business there are many ways that you can look at the costs per client. Initially you can look at the amount they themselves invest, & after your costs for sales & marketing, that will give you a good idea of what your revenue is off of one person, however, what if they refer others to you? Then what is that number? Your customer service experience becomes a whole lot more meaningful when you think of that.
– What is competition doing & are they really competition? Is your competition others you can work a long side? Can you leverage certain talents & abilities between competition? How is your competition pivoting?
– Supply & Demand curve:
Know what’s going on & when to pivot. It’s better to pivot before its essential!
– Efficiency when costs sky rocket:
How can you become more efficient in your costs spent & saved during stressful times? Have you “put away for a rainy day” to sustain you for at least a couple of months?
– History of companies that didn’t pivot:
* Pan-Am: They over invested in current markets instead of future gains
* So many tech companies that were once “big names”, Toshiba, Palm, Compaq, Hitachi etc. failed to keep up with changing digital lives
So, even though a tech company was on scene first, or initially there, doesn’t mean they will stay around. Quick tip, if you don’t know, learning what people are interested in & giving them that, will keep you in business!
Make it a great day!
