If you haven’t noticed, puppies are at a premium since the start of covid-19! This has driven the prices of dog’s way up but also there are a whole new breed of dog owners and dog parks filled with young pups. Covid-19 has changed the business landscape as well. Traditional business models have had to adapt or fail and new businesses are popping up to fill demand for home delivery, online shopping, and a rash of other businesses that have thrived in place of those that are dying.
Young pups and business start-ups tend to look at things differently than old dogs and established businesses. New pups are excited to be alive, they jump and play and bite things they shouldn’t and generally cause trouble. Young businesses usually don’t know the lay of the land either, their owners try new things, dig up new business and can cause a disruption to business models. Sometimes they force old dogs to learn new tricks.
Skip the Dishes (Grubhub in the USA) had started before Covid-19 by almost a decade in Saskatchewan but could be considered a new kid on the block and definitely marked its territory through 2020. Its business model suggests to restaurants that they will take care of deliveries for them and offers a variety of pickup services to people who would like to get a meal from their favorite restaurants but don’t want the hassle of ordering directly or eating in. Disruptive because it has found a model to take over the food delivery business. Disturbing because Skip charges 25-30% of the cost of the food to the restaurant who have traditionally only had 25-30% to cover their costs. Innovative with their ability to reach consumers.
Uber another young pup who is definitely training the masses to use its service instead of taxi’s has quickly started digging holes in lawns that aren’t theirs. Uber announced this week that they are generating more income from deliveries of boxes than they are from delivering people!
But there are some old dogs learning new tricks as well. Disney who is suffering because their people parks are shuttered in some regions have re-invented themselves in competition to Netflix with their own subscription channels. Amazon who wants to be the only dog on the block, having chewed some holes into the retail trade, has a substantial tail wagging in the online entertainment business as well.
Oh, and what about all that poop on the sidewalk, who is going to clean that up? Covid-19 has wiped out some hotel owners and disseminated the cruise ship industry. There are some European countries like Spain, Italy and Greece that are facing financial crisis due to a lack of tourism, and a whole rash of poor people who have lost their jobs as a result of lockdowns due to Covid-19 restrictions. But like dog doodoo on the sidewalk we are tending to step around the subject or kicking it to the curb because we don’t want to deal with it. Someone else will clean that up, or pick it up with a 20 million dollar bill.
There is a time for everything including letting some dogs die a natural death. Businesses too need to either be revitalized and learn new tricks or close down and let new young blood take over the block. This is happening on main streets all around the world right now. Some small businesses are closing down, never to reopen, while a new generation of entrepreneurs are training and learning things never even dreamed of by an older generation.
Dogs tend to live longer on average than new businesses. According to the Business Desk Reference the average life of a business is 8.5 years while the average dog will live 10-12 years. In other words, there will always be new dogs on the block but they might be there longer than the new business that pops up on your lawn.
Dave Fuller, MBA is an Award Winning Business Coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Want to pee on this post? Email dave@pivotleader.com
Opmerkingen