I was having dinner with a friend of mine last night… she runs her own show. She said business has never been busier. In fact, most of our conversation was about planning her business growth. Odd you might think with the current financial climate.
She is in a business that will feel an upswing in the downturn – she is a clinical physiologist. Another person I know runs a business which gets people back to work after workers compensation claims… he has never been busier.
There are always winners…. but are we ready to advantage of what could be coming our way? Or are we rather too spooked by the media to take business risks?
One of my colleagues at RedBalloon her partner works in Mergers and Acquisitions for a large law firm. She wonders if she will ever see him again he is that busy.
Of course, there are the obvious businesses that boom – the lipstick economy, people eating in instead of going out – so take away food is on the rise (as are the obesity rates). BRW last week listed out a number of businesses that will boom.
RedBalloon for Corporate has found all sorts of opportunities that we did not know were there. Whilst we have been running reward programs and incentive schemes for years, we are finding area’s that previously we did not get to play in. For instance, if a business was running an offshore incentive program – which just got 40% more expensive based on currency fluctuations… I don’t like to think of us as a conciliation prize, but the reality is that at the participants will still get an amazing experience ‘domestically’, rather than there being no prize after all their work…
As bonuses dry up – but people have worked really hard, management is spending smaller amounts but still make sure that they acknowledge their people. They know that if they do nothing – no acknowledgement will cause them much greater harm long term, than the small investment now in a RedBalloon experience.
This supports the 900 local activity suppliers in the RedBalloon community.
So what I see, is it is back to basics, support local which will keep people employed and the economy stimulated. This is a time when our service economy can shine.
It will take a brave person to start a business now…. but there are definitely great opportunities for growth… though it might take a strong stomach.
Tell me your story…
Hi Naomi, love your work.
Yes, agree interesting times ahead. As you know the markets have to adjust, that's what they do, how long the bear runs who knows.
In every downturn there is opportunity - from discounted BMW's to heavily geared investment property fire sales . Grays online will be loving it.
Retracting markets offer opportunities for land grabs.
Interesting, if you go back to the last Depression there were two breakfast cereals with roughly equal market share, Kelloggs and Post - one decided to continue to advertise and invest in product development; the other retracted. The tough times didn't last.
Smart businesses will focus on people and customer engagement - getting more bang for their advertising dollar (ie online)