Reenergizing old business

[davidb3069]

While this topic is about starting new businesses, some times recharging your old business is just as or more important. I have lost at least one business over the years that failed to keep up with modern trends. In this case, the internet put a very well performing business (and many other businesses like mine that were operating in the same software field) out of business.

What happens when you fail to keep up with the market around you? Your competition takes over for one thing. In my case, I did not lose out to the competition. In fact, the actual technologies changed so much that it erased a whole business market overnight. I used to develop games and applications for bulletin boards which were before the internet. Back in the days when you used a modem to dial up another modem or bulletin board and chat, send emails, etc. It was a different day. The company that sold the product that I developed for was doing $50 million+ a year and they could not even survive the coming of the internet.

My advise with any new business (or existing business) is to always be aware of your surroundings. Do not get lazy and complacent. Be prepared to reinvent yourself. Knowing what your services are worth and when they have become less valuable means you have to do your homework.

And success in business does not come without a LOT of work. More so when it is brand new.

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[vangogh]

It's good advice. I think it's dangerous for any business to feel too comfortable. Things change and some of those changes could render your entire business meaningless. You mentioned the internet and it clearly disrupted a lot of business models, some of which were probably thought as safe as could be. I'm thinking of newspapers and magazines which have been struggling for years. And now the mobile version of the internet is coming along and will probably disrupt much of what's now become common place on the internet.

I devote time every day and week to keeping up with my industry and everything related to it in part to keep an eye out for disruptions. Most aren't going to wipe away my business, but many come along that change it and I know I have to keep up with the changes. Any business that just assumes tomorrow is always going to be business as usual is likely in for some rough times ahead.

[Harold Mansfield]

My advise with any new business (or existing business) is to always be aware of your surroundings. Do not get lazy and complacent. Be prepared to reinvent yourself. Knowing what your services are worth and when they have become less valuable means you have to do your homework.

It's good advice.
I JUST "re-invented" my business last year and it is paying off. I threw out the stench of all of the mistakes that I'd made over the previous years, and started initiating all of those things that I never got back to. Basically I took what I learned, and then went back and dug up all of the things that I said I was going to do, and actually started doing them.

Sometimes you get so bogged down into the direction that you are going, that it's hard to get the energy into changing direction. I fell into the "As soon as I make a little more money, I'm going to start doing......" mode. I finally realized that I was never going to make more money if I didn't start doing new things. That sword is DEFINITELY double edged.

The bottom line is, you have to keep your business fresh. And I mean that in both the 80's vernacular "Phresh", and in the marketing definition.

[huggytree]

for my business it isn't going to change a heck of a lot ever, but I DO keep up with new products all the time....looking for a better way and many times the new better way costs less in labor

[davidb3069]

What I find interesting is that with this economy the way it is, it is really hard to tell if your marketing is working or not. Would an otherwise willing client or customer pay for your service if they were doing better? Or would they not regardless of their own economic situation? Would they buy a similar product or service from your competition if all things are the same except your marketing?

[Harold Mansfield]

What I find interesting is that with this economy the way it is, it is really hard to tell if your marketing is working or not.
Actually it's not. If you aren't gaining any traction in the industry, increasing sales, brand awareness and/or user engagement...then your marketing isn't working.
And there is nothing so wrong with the economy that you can't make money just like everyone else is doing.

Corporate profits are at an all time high.
The stock market is breaking records.
Consumer index and confidence are up.
Retailers are doing well.
Small Business Starts are back to pre-recession numbers.

If this were 2007-2010 that was a viable excuse. But we're over that hump now. Bottom line is, if you have something people want or need, there are plenty of people out there spending money on themselves and on their business. You need to target them.



Would an otherwise willing client or customer pay for your service if they were doing better? Or would they not regardless of their own economic situation?
Depends on the business or client. There have been many things that I have put on the back burner because they weren't really neccessary and others that I had to have and spent my last dollar on that week/month because I deemed them totally neccessary.


Would they buy a similar product or service from your competition if all things are the same except your marketing?
Your marketing is usually WHY they buy from a competitor instead of you....assuming nearly identical products.

Sometimes one feature is enough to sway me from one product to another. Sometimes it's been the presentation that gave me more confidence in one over another.
There are a TON of reasons why people decide NOT to do business with someone.

I just recently had a guy who I spoke with for 45 minutes assessing his situation and offering advice and fixes to which he was all very receptive to and impressed with.
At the end of the conversation he was positive that he wanted to do business with me, commented on how he was impressed with my reviews and other websites that I have worked on...looked like a lock.

Never heard from him after that.

When I did a follow up call to see if he was still in need, he told me that he couldn't use my contact form ( even though he had already contacted me and had my direct phone number, and email and had already spoken with me for 45 minutes), and that was the "deal breaker" for him. That was so insane, that I didn't even try to turn it around. I should have known something was up when I said that I'd be looking for his email (and tried to make sure he had my email address correct), and he kept repeating that he'd just use the contact form on the website:confused:

Turns out there was a glitch with the form if you put something other than a URL in the URL field, which I fixed in about 5 seconds. But that was his reasoning.
You just never know what little thing will turn people away. We all have things that we perceive as less than credible, or a turn off.

However, in this particular situation I think I dodged a bullet.

[rewind]

It would have been interesting to be around when the bulletin boards were around, but I didn't have my own computer back then.

What year did the bulletin board systems start becoming obsolete? I would think as the web browser started becoming more and more popular, so maybe early 90s?

[vangogh]

And there is nothing so wrong with the economy that you can't make money just like everyone else is doing.

So true. Not everything is going to sell when the economy is in bad shape, but that doesn't mean nothing will sell. I'd be willing to bet the sales of liquor don't suffer for example. When the economy is in bad shape it often means things are selling for less, so it's a good time to spend on advertising or new equipment or whatever you need to take your business to the next level.


What year did the bulletin board systems start becoming obsolete?

I think they're still around and I think they mostly got replaced by forums. I don't know that it was specifically the browser that led to the change. More likely it was the software that made communication easier. Fast forward a few years and lots of forums have been replaced by different kinds of social networking sites.

[Harold Mansfield]

It would have been interesting to be around when the bulletin boards were around, but I didn't have my own computer back then.
Yeah, but the technology was brutal back then.

56k dial up modems.
512 MB of RAM.
80GB Hard Drives
Dancing Banana Gifs.

Oh, the horror.

[BNB]

Yeah, but the technology was brutal back then.

56k dial up modems.
512 MB of RAM.
80GB Hard Drives
Dancing Banana Gifs.

Oh, the horror.

80GB hard drives? I remember my first Dell computer had a 220MB hard drive, and it was a huge deal when we upgrade to a full 1GB!!! The processor was a whopping 33mhz.

[billbenson]

So true. Not everything is going to sell when the economy is in bad shape, but that doesn't mean nothing will sell. I'd be willing to bet the sales of liquor don't suffer for example. When the economy is in bad shape it often means things are selling for less, so it's a good time to spend on advertising or new equipment or whatever you need to take your business to the next level.


I think this is an important point. People put way to much blame on the economy. You may need to retrain in a different field or move to a different state, but there is always money to be made.

On the other side of the coin, however, it appears that most of the people in the US need the structure of a job or school. While most of us here can operate and learn on their own, not everyone in the US is wired that way. My wife is very smart, but she can't do it without structure.

I say in the US, because it appears to be as well a cultural thing. I can say this because I spent 10+ years as a sales manager for Latin America and the Caribbean. I've been to all business centers multiple times except 4. Haiti is the poorest place I've seen. Yet there, bartering and entrepreneurship is a way of life. There isn't much education or work so people there and I assume similar countries have evolved to being entrepreneur’s. Survival of the fittest or natural attrition so to speak.

My personal opinion but I think the US population better wake up and learn to do it on their own or the next generation is heading for a disaster.

[vangogh]

I remember my first Dell computer had a 220MB hard drive

The hard drive on my first computer was 499k. Yep. It was the first Apple Macintosh. You didn't save anything on the machine. Everything was on 3.5 inch floppies


People put way to much blame on the economy.

I agree. People seem to think a bad economy means everything stops and no one can make money. That's not true at all. If 20% of the population is unemployed, that's pretty bad. It still means 80% are employed. You still need to pay mortgage/rent, buy food, pay the utilities companies. People can make money when the economy is down. If people are out of work they're probably more willing to pay for something that will teach them a new career.

If you've been around long enough you know there are cycles to the economy. When it's going well save some money to be in position to buy things when they're cheaper in the down economy.


it appears that most of the people in the US need the structure of a job or school

I don't think it's a US thing or a cultural thing. I think it's a general people thing. Some need or want the structure. Some do better without it. If anything I would think more people in the US can function independent of structure or under a self imposed structure. Our country is all about individualism after all.