In the classic novel “A Tale Of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens opens with the often-quoted phrase: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” What many don’t know is that he continued on to say: “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.”
What truer words could be said for the times we’re living in right now?
Immediately after the coronavirus spread worldwide, Red Roof hotels started offering cheap day rates as low as $29 for hotel rooms turned office suites — complete with fast internet — to remote workers desperate for a quiet place to get work done. Many gyms started livestreaming home workout classes and offering plans, giving them a product that many will continue to offer even after being allowed to open up again. A restaurant owner (whose name escapes me) was featured on TV to talk about how he transformed his seafood restaurant to a curbside pickup for fresh seafood, which kept his company-owned fishing boats operating when he could no longer serve meals in his restaurant. He said the service is very lucrative and he plans to continue to offer it after restrictions have been lifted.
As you may be aware, our annual event with 1,200 people was shut down three weeks prior to going live last spring. In a mad rush, we turned it into a virtual event, completely revamping the sessions, speakers, delivery, and content. It was no small feat. We’ve since launched Big Red Virtual (BigRedVirtual.com), our new virtual event platform and service that we’re now selling to various companies trying to do the same. I anticipate it being a $6 million division by the end of 2021, and it wasn’t even on our radar early in 2020.
Here’s my point: The best-laid plans are often rendered useless, and fast, decisive, and adaptive actions need to be taken. How quickly you can adapt and change course is in direct correlation with your ability to not only survive but also make a LOT of money.
You’ve heard the phrase “survival of the fittest,” which originated in Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way to describe the process of natural selection and survival. However, the concept of “fittest” is inaccurate. It’s actually the most adaptive who survive, not necessarily the fastest or strongest. Being big and strong didn’t save the dinosaurs, but cockroaches have survived millions of years because of their incredible ability to adjust and persist through the various changes on our planet.
There ARE plenty of opportunities right now for IT companies, but these opportunities may require expansion into new services, new products, and new initiatives. Most MSPs get into a one-track way of doing things and stay there, NOT inventing or disrupting themselves but simply trying to do more of the same. The entrepreneurial MSP has a broader vision and is willing to see and quickly act on new opportunities as they present themselves, or better yet, get out of the cave and LOOK for them.
Over this past year, what have YOU been focused on? Survival? Growth? Or perhaps expansion of your current model through innovation and new opportunities? It’s been nearly a year since all hell broke loose. Maybe treading water for a month was necessary to figure out what the heck was going on and to reassess, but now, if you’re NOT innovating, NOT expanding, and NOT growing, you may end up extinct. Money is moving. The question is this: Are you doing everything possible to put yourself in the flow of it, and if not, why?
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