Why Business Is Much More Flexible Than Ever Before

2019 is a strange place. Most of us would agree. It’s amazing to think how those born in 2001 could quite happily begin their own business with the right idea, the right funding, and the right direction. We can often forget just how far things have come from even ten years ago. Over time, our concepts of what a business could and should be are starting to erode, and this is leaving us both somewhat terrified and absolutely inspired.

Business life is much more flexible than it ever was before, especially when considering the progression of the past. New businesses have so much more potential to them than those with great hulking departments and institutional efforts. For that reason, it’s essential to know how to proceed, and how to keep ahead of things ahead of time. If we aren’t able to find the best direction for us, odds are there are more options on the horizon. Let us outline what the span of business potential is in the modern-day, and how that might help your overall progression.

Reducing Overheads

It’s amazing to see how the cost of running a business has tanked thanks to continuing technological development. Reducing your overheads is, of course, part of this. Just imagine how the word ‘start-up’ is now quite frequently used to describe an entrepreneur with potentially little means making a go at activating their process and trying to put their plan into motion. This is an exciting prospect. For example, finding shared office space for rent can help you collect your small team and talk through your processes while providing a semi-permanent residence much more professional than a simple garage, or any other regular starter solution could provide.

Reducing overheads can also come in the form of how you run your business and the apparatus you use. For example, employing a business suite needn’t be expensive. Using services such as Google Suite can help you kit every member of your small firm out with their own email, and can equip you with cloud storage functionalities. All of this, especially if you shop around, might only cost you around the same price as a Netflix subscription each month for each member. On top of that, opening social media accounts for your branding is free, and can help you connect with your audience before you even release a product.

Communication

Never before in history have two people at opposite ends of the Earth managed to come together and run a business as the sole members, without ever meeting in person. Communication is a massive part of that. From Slack to Skype to other encrypted instant messaging platforms, never before has the ability to connect to your partners or subcontractors been this easy. To us, that sounds like a convenience you should absolutely take part in. Just be sure that your communications are encrypted, and you learn how to share business documents in a secure and regularly updated manner. After all, if you can connect to someone across the globe, the chances are that someone could intrude on that connection, especially with sloppy security handling.

Advertising

Marketing has become its own beast in the digital age. Before it sold emotions, concepts, feelings, but it was localized in certain environments. A billboard was a crowning achievement, not to mention the expense of a television ad. But in the modern day, for relatively little capital a business can directly target specific members of an age group, a demographic, an interest, a passion, a career, or based on their internet history constructing their advertising ID, a personality.

Not only is this a much more dedicated effort to allow for incredibly singular advertising, but it can be ‘beamed’ directly into the pockets of those who might be interested, straight onto their device, on many social media platforms. Even third-party apps or websites aren’t safe, as with the use of Google Ads widgets can appear in many places. Tell all this to a marketing professional making their way anytime before the year 2000, and you would have likely been met with real stomach-laughs.

PR has changed completely over the last fifteen years. Now, a public statement of apology on a social media page, a champion of causes using a hashtag, and being able to handle customer complaints can all be achieved at the click of a button. Even small businesses have the same Twitter character limit as Disney Studios. For this, it’s not hard to see how your business needs to remain careful, direct, and targeted.

With these tips, we hope you are much better able to consider your business flexibility, potentially inspiring you to further action.