The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses big and small to reinvent themselves in order to survive. In fact, the name of the game is now “reinvention” with businesses forced to become creative and flexible in order to continue their operations.
With social distancing as the norm, gyms and fitness studios have to quickly pivot their operations online. These businesses are previously exclusively reliant on physical locations and on-site staff, but this pandemic has put a halt on how their business has always been run.
Now gyms and their fitness instructors are holding classes online via platforms like Zoom or the subscription service ClassPass. Other fitness studios are creating YouTube video workouts in an effort to keep their clientele entertained and active, while some like the Orange Theory studio is sharing a free 30-minute workout on its website every day.
What the authors of the book “The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Who Built Great Businesses Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies For Success” wrote about is even more true now (though I bet they never even thought a pandemic will put a halt on the world as we know it).
You know the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? The problem with that piece of advice is that it invites complacency — and complacency in business is like a slow leak in a tire. You may not notice the damage it’s causing until the thing is completely flat and you can’t move forward. Top-performing entrepreneurs aren’t afraid to take chances and keep expanding their product line. They’re not afraid to give their business a major overhaul now and then to keep pace with changes in the marketplace. And sometimes a complete face-lift is in order.
Competition in today’s marketplace is already tough, and competing with a virus is an even more daunting proposition. To survive, you need to totally reinvent your business — e.g. rethink your offerings, rethink your customers, even rethink your strategies. You need to be quick on your feet to pivot your processes and operations in an effort to survive. And only those that can quickly overhaul their businesses will survive.
As Michael Dell once said:
The changes headed our way require more than incremental progress; they demand fundamental reinvention. We need to de-materialize heavy processes and drive radical efficiencies across the entire global economy. Think about what’s happened in music, publishing, travel and taxi cabs. Entirely new, digital business models are replacing resource-intensive ones. The opportunities in the digital economy for both growth and sustainability are limitless.
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Be like Apple! They just never stop innovating