Business is exciting. The journey of entrepreneurship is a thrilling experience that can be likened to a rollercoaster ride literally. For some entrepreneurs this exciting experience is cut short. It has become common knowledge that most businesses don’t survive past two years. In this time of constant industry disruptions, there seems to be even more businesses closing down faster.
Disruption of industries is unstoppable; it takes place independent of the approval of industry players. While we would rather not have any disruptions in our respective industries, still it happens. And at most times, although we won’t admit, it happens for the greater good of the industry. We won’t admit because we are not the ones at the driver seat of the disruption, if we were, we would be the forefront evangelists. Is this article about getting better or being at the end of disruption? You ask. I am glad you asked.
To survive disruption you have to be committed to getting better. If anything, those who pioneer disruptive services and products are those who are committed to getting better. These are the businesses and entrepreneurs who are not satisfied by the current state of things. They are concerned with improving efficiency and satisfying their customers need to the best of their ability. And I know, someone is probably feeling like these are not applicable to small businesses or startups with little to no capital. But that is far from the truth. Small businesses should commit to getting better on a daily basis; this should encompass their product offering, their businesses systems and customer service.
In the case where a small business is at the receiving end of an industry disruption, the business that is committed to getting better can go as far as modifying their whole service offering in order to stay in business and still make money. In the creative space, a lot of apps are being developed that allow people to do their own creative work using templates and less technical design skills. And while some or most of these apps are not that effective yet, they will be one day. When they do become that effective there will be a major disruption for freelancers and design agencies. When that happens, if an agency is committed to getting better, they are probably developing ways to modify their product offering so that they are able to survive the disruption. An example could be moving from being mere designers to consultants for design projects. I mean if the people can design but do not understand the dynamics of design, don’t you think there will be a need for consulting those who do?
Commitment to getting better is at the center of relevance. Facebook is currently the biggest social media network with billions of registered users. What some people may not know is that there was another social media network before Facebook called MXIt. Although dominated by texting, Mxit could have easily been the social media giant that Facebook or Twitter is today. Unfortunately, Mxit didn’t even get to become Whatsapp. I am convinced that the reason why Mxit became obsolete is because it did not commit to growth, to finding new ways to make the platform better. Facebook on the other hand remains to be on the number one spot after all these years. This is because Facebook is consistently working on getting better. By either modifying its algorithm to move from showing a lot of pages content to showing more content from friends because it I s based on the concept of friendships; or when it allows for more video content because the users love video content. It is the reason why it will stand undisputed for long, because it commits to getting better.
What about your business? Are you committed to getting better? In the words of a scene from the popular Marvel movie Black Panther; “simply because something is working, it doesn’t mean that it cannot be improved for the better” paraphrased.