Are you ready to seize new business opportunities and put the horrors of the past few months behind you? The well-prepared, courageous strategists among you will be the most likely to succeed in 2021.
Every economic crisis, despite its depth and gravity, has always experienced that golden moment when everything turns a corner in our favour and the world begins to bounce back. When it happens this time, the opportunities open to us will be as endless and varied as they are exciting. Business people, financiers, entrepreneurs and government officials will reach out and grasp the chance to exploit the ‘new deal’ that a rebooted economy is holding out to them.
But those days will be numbered and the golden apple will be ripe for the picking for just a short, determinate period of time. People’s realization that a fleeting moment of good fortune has come their way will indubitably depend on certain conditions being met:
– They must be willing to jump at the new opportunities as soon as they present themselves;
– When the time comes, they need to have enough financial resources to invest with;
– They must act with courage and without hesitation, as in a “live or die” situation.
– They must have worked well on their preparedness, in order to be ready to offer the market what customers demand: new, sustainable, effective and affordable products.
A Fleeting Moment by Jonas Gerard
Recovery will take time.
After the 2008 recession, larger companies recovered to their pre-crisis GDP in an average of four years, while smaller ones took an average of six.
How long will it take in the current recession? That will depend on both economic vulnerability to the COVID-19 response and the prevailing macroeconomic outlook in their respective industries. According the McKinsey Global Institute and Oxford Economics, the most likely scenario to unfold among small businesses appears to forecast a slow recovery. Including quite a few businesses that may never reopen.
Many small businesses, especially in Western countries, will need to make extreme changes in order to survive. The broad themes are, by now, familiar and generally the same as with most large businesses: protecting the health and safety of employees and customers, adapting business models, investing in talent and technology, and adjusting staffing models and labour practices.
Online competition will get even stronger in the near future for outlets like cosmetic retail stores, shopping malls and supermarkets, but professional channels do have the advantage that they can offer a personalized made-to-measure service. Retailers such as pharmacies or herbalist shops can offer bespoke recommendations to clients, but something that they cannot offer is the application of the product and the hands-on experience that hair and beauty professionals enjoy with their customers. This is an extraordinary advantage that only professional salons have, insofar as they cultivate their knowledge and offer an efficient and reasonably priced service.
Wealthy governments in Europe and North America are preparing enormous amounts of money to boost sick economies worldwide. That doesn’t mean it will be easy to recover; it means it will be possible!
Many commentators have explained that most of the world’s traditionally stronger economies endure prolonged periods of struggle, often interspersed with frequent and serious financial crises. CoVid19 has simply taken what was already a dysfunctional economic world-order and rocketed it to a whole new level. But we can be reassured; we can look towards 2021 with optimism – if we make sure we are ready to catch and cling onto the opportunities it opens up for us!
