Adaptability

Transitioning from being an employee to entrepreneur is a choice. We are intentional and it’s an exciting time. As we take this journey, we see that adaptability is also an important choice and can be vital to the success of our business. Being able to quickly adapt is not easy but it will often turn out to be an advantage over those who stick to their original plan to a “T”.

Adaptability: customers

We all probably have an ideal customer, an avatar, a list of problems we will solve or address written down and refer to these often. It’s probably not something we like to think about but part of being in business is that there is always a chance we discover we don’t have it all quite right or that things may change.

The need for us to adapt to a change or discovery can be seen in various ways. Perhaps we thought our online customers prefer newsletters on Saturdays but notice that when we send out a newsletter on Tuesdays, our open rate is higher.

Another example of where we may need to adapt within our business is pricing. At first thought, it may seem a price change would only be downwards but sometimes our prices need to be increased to align to our customer’s values. This can be seen when we analyze our sales by product or when we look at what competitors are charging.

Yet another discovery may be where our market now hangs out. For example, our market used to log into the number one social media platform for hours on end but now they are switching to the fasting growing newer platform.

• Do we keep with Saturday newsletters?
• Or adapt to Tuesday?
• Do we continue ads on the original platform?
• Or adapt and try out the new site?

Adaptability: us

Another type of situation which may test our adaptability is a situation in which we discover we don’t know as much as we thought we did about our skillset. For example, perhaps you have always been great at meeting and engaging folks…offline. But for some reason we are having a difficult time getting engagement online. Realizing that the skills needed to engage online is different than required offline is the first step in adapting. Making the actual change is the next step.

As we transition from employee to entrepreneur, we need to be ready to change. We use various ways to identify when changes are needed and then we implement the changes. Adaptability will help us succeed as long as we believe in ourselves, are confident and attentive to our audiences, our skill set and the business environment in which we operate. We will continue to have a plan but also be adaptable. We need to know when we need to make changes and be willing to do so.

How has adaptability played out for you so far?