Stretch your mind. Look over the walls of your rut/groove. Think like you've never been in business before. What is the most impossible thing you can think of to try in your business?
20 years ago if I had told you it was possible to have a consumer-based business without a store front and no catalog to mail would you have thought that possible?
15 years ago if I had told you a generation of young people would each have a private mobile phone they would not only talk on but type messages on, take pictures with and read their email with, would you have thought that possible?
10 years ago if I had told you that security in this country would become a multi-billion dollar business and constant fear in the national news mindset would you have imagined why that happened?
5 years ago if I had told you the housing market would crater and take huge banks with it threatening our world economy in the process would you have thought it would happen so soon?
Today, we need to be able to imagine impossible futures that our businesses are expected to thrive in. Are you looking? Are you searching for new trends? Are you considering the impossible? If not, you need to start this thought process because the future of your organization is counting on your ability and willingness to try new things.
What if...
You could make 85% of your revenue by only being open one day a week in a physical location? With such lower costs how much more profit could you make? Would you consider it?
Television ads no longer existed, spam filters caught everything and interruption marketing was no longer an acceptable form of getting the word out. How would you market?
Technology advanced enough that all white collar jobs could be done from remote locations like someone's home thus eliminating the need for downtown office buildings. How would this impact your products and services?
Finally,
What if your industry went into a freefall decline like the newspaper industry is at this very moment, what would be your next step to maintain the viability of your business? Are you agile enough to make a transition out of your current industry while still using common skills and employees?
These are the questions being pondered by aggressive, successful organizations that always seem to be on the forefront of their industry. Are you ready to think like this? If you are still thinking about how to make this year profitable, if you are still thinking how wonderful it will be once we return to a normal economy, if you are still thinking how long you've been in existence and counting the days until you can retire -- think again.
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