I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief at midnight when 2020 was officially over. But now we have the task of looking forward and planning how to move our small businesses forward after ten months of uncertainty.

Did the pandemic throw an unexpected monkey wrench in your plans for business growth last year?

Are you wondering how to move forward from all the unexpected changes you had to make for your small business to survive the pandemic?

Welcome to the “next” normal. The last thing any of us expected to interfere with our business last year was a pandemic. Yet, by mid-March, businesses were closed indefinitely, the supply chain was crippled, and our customers were afraid to venture out. Nobody saw it coming. And it’s unlikely any small business in Michigan had a contingency plan for pandemic conditions. Did yours?

It can be hard to plan for every situation, even under normal conditions. Even when making planned changes. It’s hard because the roadblocks to our growth aren’t always in plain sight. Or even on our radar – like a pandemic.

Resolve to Recalibrate Your Business Goals

Maybe you had a plan for growth that the pandemic made obsolete, and you’re ready to move forward again. Or maybe you made New Year’s resolutions for your business growth. Now, how are you going to lead your business to your goals?

This year is already unlike any other. Lessons learned from the pandemic make it clear that small businesses can’t go on as usual. Everything has changed, from the supply chain, to your workforce, to how your customers shop and what kind of service they expect. Hint: the adaptations we were forced to make since March are not going away. Customers are concerned about health risks, have grown more comfortable doing business online, and have come to expect the instant gratification of online shopping, customer service chat-bots, virtual meetings, and the convenience of delivery and curbside pickup.

Under normal conditions, it would have taken months of planning to achieve change in any one of those areas. But for our businesses to thrive during the pandemic, we didn’t have the luxury of time or the wiggle room for mistakes. And there’s no going back now!

Now is the time to look back at how your business handled change during the pandemic, to assess what worked versus what didn’t, and to plan how to thrive moving into the new year.

Now is the time to call David. With over 40 years of business experience, he can help you sort through the past year, identify problem areas and roadblocks, and plan a new path forward into the “next” normal.

Change is unavoidable. Don’t be left behind!

A Business Coach with Personal Solutions

As a business coach in the Ann Arbor area, David has helped many Michigan small business owners align their businesses for success. If you’re not happy with your business’s growth, David can help you change course.

David specializes in helping small and medium-sized businesses in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, and all SE Michigan plan for the future.

Contact David or call 734-726-5208 today to set up a virtual strategy and review session!