Covid 19 has brought a lot of fear into the business environment, and after listening carefully to the words used by the president in his latest “family meeting” and analyzing his body language, it once again resembles a clear feeling of fear.

Jay Shetty in his book “Think like a Monk” wrote: What we should really fear is that we will miss the opportunities that fear offers.

 

Is this easier said than done, or is this a game changer attitude we must apply to our way of thinking?

When attending a series of discussions on diverse topics last week at a stand up event it was clear that people intend to debate and suppress opportunities that fear offers. They will rather take time and energy to debate and fight the origin of fear, shifting the bucket and blaming circumstances than finding new opportunities.

 

Businesses that pivoted in the last year are those who saw the opportunity that fear offered. It was not easy and yes, it was risky, but there was nothing really to lose.

We had the opportunity to be part of multiple clients journey of pivoting within their business model and the opportunities for their choice to do so, now grow into endless growth, and boy, are we busy managing that growth.

 

Here are three key indicators to stick by when grabbing the opportunities your fear signals.

 

  1. Do not change the business, change the way you do business.

First acknowledge the fact that you are good with what you do and that the knowledge and experience you have gained has built your brand and earned respect in the market share. Do not lose faith in what you have to offer and completely flip to a different product or service offering.

The key is to reposition so that the same market share will still believe that you have the solution to their needs and that their needs are still relevant by changing the way you innovatively rediscovered your own product and revitalized it for better use by your client. This way, you will keep your current market share and grow that share as your product or service evolve and become needed by more people in the market.

 

  1. Get evidence!

When you reposition it is important to know that you will make mistakes. Be open to learn and fix as you go along. Explore every opportunity and gain experience through testing on multiple levels and diverse clientele. I call this the trial period. Once you have completed this trial period, build it into your service offering and explore new markets with your new evidence that you have trialed. Once again, be open to make even more mistakes to fix and learn from to grow and excel. This repeated process will give you access to even more new opportunities and markets, and as you grow you will not only get new customers but be more distinctive in your brand or product offering.

 

  1. Educate your internal and external client.

This growth can happen very quickly, and in between the hustle of learning, making mistakes and fixing them, one intend to forget to educate your internal client. Do not exclude them from the process. Let them be part of every building block and let them help rebuild with solutions if your tower tumble.

Once you have a structure, educate your external client with the trial and tested version of your revitalized product offering. Be open and authentic about it. They will love your brand even more and respect you for finding new inspired ways to make their life better, caring for their needs.

 

 

Go chase that signal and grab the opportunity within your fears.

 

Forever inspired!

 

JJ van Niekerk

Forever Friday: Creative Director