What business are you in?
About the Author:
Paul Wilton (editor)
CA with degrees in commerce, accounting and information technology. Paul worked overseas in the “Big 4” accounting firms and served as a director at Audit New Zealand before setting up his own consultancy. Author of A-Z of New Zealand Business Law, Paul has over 20 years of experience as a business owner and consultant. He joined FBA in 2004 and is totally committed to providing excellence in quality and value to our subscribers.
Covid-19 has brought into focus the importance of understanding your business and its potential. To illustrate a point, consider the following hairdressers:
Hair today, gone tomorrow
Q: What business are your in?
A: Hairdressing
Q: What are you doing for your business at this time?
A: Didn't you hear what I just said? I'm a hairdresser. I'm not allowed near my customers. I've taken out the subsidy for myself and my staff, but have rent to pay, a vehicle lease and a personal home mortgage. If this goes on much longer, I'll be lucky if I can survive.
Hair we are!
Q: What business are your in?
A: Hair
Q: What are you doing for your business at this time?
A: Well, we've updated our website and are offering hair products online. We've also been contacting all our customers and have provided links to short online video courses through our website on how to manage your hair at a time like this. For example, we gave a course on how to dye your own hair, and offered specials to the first 50 people who bought the products we used in the video. We've been quite surprised at how effective this has been.
We're also having some fun, encouraging customers to go wild and try something new at this time when they're staying home. Our "Let your hair down!" campaign, for example, shows customers how to use wigs and offers these for sale online.
We've offered fun things for mums to do with their daughters and have been delighted to learn that husbands and sons are equally interested in getting involved.
In the past week, we've also set up an online booking system for people to book their appointments from the first Monday following a drop to a Covid level that enables us to start cutting again. Again, we are offering specials. I'm sorry, I'd like to chat more, but there is just so much to do!
Hair and Beyond
Q: What business are your in?
A: Beauty
Q: What are you doing for your business at this time?
A: Well, in addition to online videos, hair products and post-Covid bookings, we have also branched out into a number of other beauty products: Make-up, skin care, aging reduction, diets and recipe books...
Hair, There and Everywhere
Q: What business are your in?
A: We make people feel good about themselves
Q: What are you doing for your business at this time?
A: We offer online products, education and advance bookings. We've also teamed up with experts in different fields, so as to take a much more holistic approach to making people feel good about themselves. This widens our reach and allows us to branch into areas other than physical appearance, including clothing and footwear, but also self image... You know, there is a lot more to beautiful people than how they look.
By now, I'm sure you get the point. By thinking outside the box, you are more likely to come up with something that really works for you and your business, no matter what the circumstances. Over the past few weeks, the press has highlighted interesting examples of businesses that have adapted to the new circumstances and flourished as a result.
Of course there are practical constraints that will influence what is possible, but you are limited as much by your imagination and attitude as you are by anything else.
FBA Editor
The first and last thing that I will say about that in this article is this: There are many realistic scenarios that could pan out over the coming months, some much more positive than others, but if you prepare for the worst you will be well-placed to tackle whatever comes your way. Here goes…