The Entrepreneur and Change

Change is inevitable and sometimes, it comes unannounced. It has caught so many small businesses unawares and it’s so powerful that it can crush businesses that take it for granted. How often do you take it for granted?

Economic recession has become the new normal today. Employees lose their jobs, incomes decline, industrial production slows down, rate of consumption slumps and businesses crumble. In the same vein, while some entrepreneurs suffer the consequences of the recession, others experience significant increase in revenue. These successful entrepreneurs only do one thing- they know when change approaches and they prepare for it.

However, the sign of recession is not the only indicator that change is about to occur. The world has evolved into a global village with new technologies springing up every day. New gadgets are invented to make business more flexible and fast. Many business operations have gone electronic, eradicating the use of huge structures and systems for storage and implementation. Not all businesses adopt new technologies and this is not the way to go. It’s just like being in this century without having a web presence or being active in social media. Your leads and connections will definitely be cut down to half.

The crazy thing about change is that it forces you into a corner if you are unprepared for it. Take for example a company suffering form a recession- they automatically cut down on expenditure, revenues will decline and hiring of employees will stop. This is the automatic response to a recession but you do not have to experience it if you are prepared. So how do you prepare for it? The first step is to know what it is.

What Is Change and How Do You Manage It?

There are various definitions of the concept of change. In simple terms, it is the transition of individuals or organisations from one state to another. Project management defines it in an entirely different way. Change doesn’t occur as a whole but in different aspects referred to as organizational changes. Change management can only be successful by knowing these organizational changes and how to implement them.

Is It Time For You To Change?

You can only know when change is due by studying your market and your business as a whole. Most times, change does not involve transforming the business entirely but just an aspect. Adjusting with the times might just involve changing your business model to suit the new developments. You will need a microscopic view of the market as well as review your products, services and customers.

What Happens When You Don’t Change?

As stated earlier, there is an automatic response to change, especially when you are unprepared. When you fail to restructure your business model and operations to what is required to survive at that time, the only direction you would be headed is downwards. The bad thing is, you not only suffer for it but also put your employees at risk of unemployment. Many of them get laid off and for those that are left; their benefits are cut short, if not totally removed. Big businesses are equally affected and knowing the consequences of poor change management should set you in the right direction.

How Do You Recover From a Breakdown?

What happens when you are adversely affected by the recession and think that all hope is lost? Well, you can either give up or choose to recover. But recovering doesn’t mean starting your business afresh the same way you did it before. There are specific qualities you need to imbibe as well as strategies to implement. Recovering from a major recession would definitely give you some leverage, especially when it raises its ugly head again.

The world is changing fast and so should you and your business. In order to respond to change, you will need to be flexible. Being stagnant and following the status quo is not always the best for your business. The most successful of entrepreneurs know when to follow laid-down principles and when to be creative. You should learn and do the same.