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Crises Have a Funny Way of Changing Where You’re Going

How well a business can pivot will determine whether it can survive — and even thrive — in a crisis, turning a calamity into a small-business boom.


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James L Katzaman

2 years ago | 7 min read

Businesses that plan well will have the best chance to survive

Photo by Pablo García Saldaña on Unsplash

How well a business can pivot will determine whether it can survive — and even thrive — in a crisis. The company’s power to master change can turn a calamity into a small-business boom.

That was the inspiration for Steve Strauss, senior small-business columnist for USA TODAY. A speaker and influencer, he wrote the bestselling, “Your Small Business Boom: Explosive Ideas to Grow Your Business, Make More Money, and Thrive in a Volatile World.”

Strauss talked with a pair of volatile entrepreneurs, Ivana Taylor and Iva Ignjatovic. Taylor owns DIYMarketers, “committed to helping small business owners get out of overwhelm.” Ignjatovic is a marketing, strategy and business consultant.

They agreed on the importance for small-business owners to master change. Those content in their ways risk being left behind in a rapidly changing and unsympathetic world.

“Of course, the pandemic changed just about everything,” Strauss said. “That’s scary, but it is also a rare opportunity.”

He recalled the words of Mark Cuban, an investor in over 200 entrepreneurs: When we look back in 20 years, we will see there were [a lot of] companies that changed the game.

“That only happens if we embrace the change,” Strauss said. “See the opportunity. Recognize that customer habits have changed, too.

“The good news is that change doesn’t have to be huge,” he said. “National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Coach John Wooden said, ‘Little changes make the big things happen.’”

Ignjatovic noted that when things change, people have the opportunity to discover talents and skills they didn’t know they had. One result is when aspiring business people learn how to monetize their expertise with multiple streams of income, as explained in a DIYMarketers article.

An Irresistible Force

“Change is as certain as gravity,” Taylor said. “We need to accept, master and dance with change because change pushes us to improve and grow.

“In the last year, I’ve gained a sense of purpose and focus I lacked in the past,” she said. “I know my goals, strategies and tactics. That feels good.”

Taylor was aided greatly by structure, which is what she says gives everyone the power to change, letting you know what and where to change.

“The major pivot in the past few years was targeting bigger clients with bigger budgets,” Strauss said. “It made a huge difference. I talk about how to do this in my book. Targeting bigger customers can be a game changer.

“It’s been such a hard year for everyone,” he said. “We all have to learn new tricks.”

A fundamental habit is to be ready for anything at any time. PwC worldwide network found that 29 percent of companies who faced a major crisis from 2014 to 2019 say they have no staff dedicated to crisis preparedness or response.

“I was planning a significant change,” Ignjatovic said. “It seems the pandemic had other ideas. Funny enough, the pandemic stopped me from making a change.”

A common saying among business owners and marketers is, “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.”

“That was a Winston Churchill statement,” Strauss said. “He knew about that. It means that we need to zig when others are zagging. By doing something new, different and different than those who are hunkered down, we can stand out.”

Capitalize On Technology

Restoring jobs after a crisis is crucial. Software-as-a-service platform Semrush reports that small companies that fully use technology realize these benefits:

  • Earn two times more revenue per employee
  • Experience nearly four times revenue growth annually
  • Are almost three times more likely to create jobs in the next year

“Any crisis causes disruption,” Taylor said. “As uncomfortable as it is, disruption is a good thing. I embrace it.”

Although buying the premise, Ignjatovic tried not to sound pessimistic.

“The next year won’t be easier,” she said. “More learning is coming. That includes knowing that success springs from relationships. It’s all about providing value for your audience.”

Willingly or not, a crisis can drive a business to pivot.

“Necessity is indeed the mother of invention,” Strauss said. “I interviewed so many small-business people who finally got into e-commerce last year.

“Look at your colleagues and cohorts,” he said. “What new thing did they figure out this past year? Can you do something similar?”

Ignjatovic still holds out for having the free will to make a change.

“While a business can often pivot, it may not need to,” she said. “A crisis will force you to slow down and stop, and rethink things.

“I read an article about a person in a constant learning mode — taking courses, learning all kinds of things — because of that existential fear,” Ignjatovic said. “The problem was it became an obsession — no gains in a business sense, only expenses and time investment.”

In some cases, change is not a choice.

“A crisis often closes something off or eliminates a resource, so you have to try something else,” Taylor said. “It’s often a blessing in disguise. I’ve also found limitations bring about much more creative solutions.

“I always have to remind myself that I have everything I need — and I know everyone I need to know,” she said. “Without that reminder, it can be easy to live in fear of not being good enough and not knowing enough.”

On the Lookout for the Ideal

Those who want to make a change in their business should seek opportunities.

“The first place I look is to my ideal customer,” Taylor said. “Your customers will always tell you what they want or need.”

Fortunately for Strauss, he has a handy reference: His book is chock full of ideas about how to make a change.

On a cautionary note, Forbes reports that more than 70 percent of organizational change-management process initiatives actually fail to meet their goal.

“I look to myself,” Ignjatovic said. “When I’m pressed against the wall, my brain starts thinking creatively.”

Lots of experts recommend having a “recipe” or “success formula,” which should be based on what makes you different. That makes progress inherent to your vision and objectives.

“I’ve found that a lot of business owners don’t spend nearly enough time on that, or they simply can’t see what sets them apart,” Taylor said. “You can introduce your model to a new customer segment. For example, the ‘value meal’ concept can be applied to any business.”

Having a clear vision and objectives requires managing communication overload, which DIYMarketers assesses in an article.

“Explore the opposite of your success formula,” Ignjatovic said. “If your formula is personalization in real life, how can you translate that to a virtual experience?”

Why Then Oh Why Can’t I?

A confident entrepreneur might assert, “If another business owner can do it, so can I.”

“In a movie called ‘The Edge,’ Anthony Hopkins was stuck in the Alaska outback,” Strauss said. “A bear was stalking him. All he had was a little book called, ‘How to survive in the wild.’ His motto became, ‘What one person can do, another can do!’ He learned how and killed the bear.”

Taylor refines her own hunting techniques.

“There’s a distinction between being able to do it and doing it successfully,” she said. “I can do video, but I’m not as successful as Gary Vaynerchuk. I can dance, but I’m not Ginger Rogers.”

Change entails cost, which means good financing also sets businesses apart. According to Wally Fortunly, besides personal savings, the top sources of capital expansion for small businesses are profits and assets, credit cards, bank loans, home equity and other personal savings.

“We are all capable of replicating what someone else does,” Ignjatovic said. “The key is to choose what to do and focus on getting it done.”

Taylor believes that each day a business owner should talk to at least one customer or client.

“I have always found it humorous when I’m with clients and see them working on their business for like five minutes,” she said. “Then the phone rings and it’s all over.

“It’s important to be confident,” Taylor said. “I think business owners are. Every time I see a survey, small-business owners tend to be pretty optimistic.”

Seeing Things Differently

That might be because changing perspective can dramatically affect the way brands engage with people.

“Each day a business owner should — as the E-Myth advises — work on their business, not just in their business,” Strauss said, referring to the book, “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.”

Ignjatovic added that business owners should review everywhere they are now compared to their goals.

“The pandemic challenge for many of us was seeing how quickly things were changing,” Strauss said. “I wrote ‘Your Small Business Boom’ as a guide to help us all navigate the almost post-pandemic world.”

Surprising dependencies also emerged as the crisis wore on.

“The most painful lesson I learned since the pandemic is how dependent we are on technology,” Taylor said. “Without tech, most businesses wouldn’t have made it. It’s more important than ever to get your ducks in a row.”

Sometimes businesses had to charge full speed ahead and hope for the best.

“You have to be ready to take risks,” Ignjatovic said. “After all, we’re already in a crisis. What do you have to lose?

“Businesses that launch in a crisis see the world and their industry for what it is and not how it was,” she said.

Being the newest players on the scene, Taylor said startups in a crisis have the least to lose, which is why they go for it.

“The small-business people who boomed during the pandemic created new profit centers they now can use in addition to their original ones,” Strauss said.

That was a good outcome at the end of a long and bumpy road.

About The Author

Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on TwitterFacebook and LinkedIn.

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James L Katzaman

Jim Katzaman is a charter member of the Tealfeed Creators' program, focusing on marketing and its benefits for companies and consumers. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as subscribing here on Tealfeed.


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