We usually read in December with a comfy afghan and a cup of tea. But change is in the air--can you feel it? With 2021 beginning to ramp up for success, we need to be reading now and begin implementing winning strategies. I’m going to give you a short reading list for the month of March and promise you this: If you read these books, your perspective will change. Creative new ideas will push your business from marginalization to better success.   

My first book is Always Day One: How the Tech Titans Plan to Stay on Top Forever, by Alex Kantrowitz. We aren’t tech giants, but we can take a page or two from their play book and in the process, be stronger and more successful. Let me sum up the basic premise in a single sentence, and then we’ll talk about it: A constant state of urgency and reinvention prevents stasis. What follows stasis is decay, decline and death. Where do we want to live? On day one.

               This requires a paradigm shift in perspective. Instead of building a business, creating imperatives for your products or services and then pounding those on every platform, always be reinventing yourself. When Amazon can beat any small business with the ultimate home shopping catalog, we on Main Street (and other roads bisecting Blue Springs) must become wizards at survival.

               This is doable! The RBL Group suggest partnering with other local businesses on a regular and revolving basis as one way to offer more, be consistently fresh, and sharpen your competitive edge. How might that look? Let’s look at it from a small business perspective. Perhaps you sell a line of clothing. You could partner with a company selling shoes, with a company dressing lawns, or with a company grooming dogs. Host a simultaneous event and publicize one another. Have products or services at each location. The next month change it up to a new partnership. This broadens your appeal and your reach, invigorates both businesses, and builds a relationship with Blue Springs buyers.

               In How To Reinvent Your Business after Coronavirus, Forbes suggests tweaking your customer base. Old friends will be loyal, but a few may have moved, may have different circumstances than before. You need to woo new friends and expand your little slice of heaven to a broader community. They recommend deconstructing your old business models to look with fresh eyes at things like your customers, your value, your customer relationships, your activities, costs and revenue.  Then use your imagination to create a new line of communication: a blog, a newsletter, a social platform. Imagine new product lines people need these days. Imagine a new value to add to your business model, perhaps enhancing customer satisfaction. Staying fresh keeps your business alive and strong.

               If you drive down Highway 7 you’ll see a scene out of 2019…cars buzzing by, businesses running at full tilt, and the hum of prosperity. Don’t let success drive past you without an effort to invite it in. Make prosperity feel at home and grow your business. The fresh hum of people who want to return to normal feels good, but don’t be deceived. They won’t forget Amazon. Plan now on ways to wed this new momentum to future success!