Online Or Bust

If you haven’t found a way to translate your business online, you won’t survive what is happening right now.

Here are two clients with two different perspectives – and time for a really big reality check:

One asked me to put together a scope agreement to take their business from in-person to online and to let them know the absolute fastest way to do this.

The other client told me that they think the ship had sailed for online business because the economy is getting ready to re-open.

Whether you are on board and actively translating your business into an online one, or need a push to get started:

It’s time to translate your business onto the Internet – because we won’t be going back to “doing business” the way it was before COVID-19. That is not going to happen.

Every individual and business impacted by this pandemic has been fundamentally changed in some way.

Change is already here – it’s time to go all-in on online.

Businesses are learning how to get more done with fewer people.

Businesses are learning how to operate with work-from-home models that cost significantly less than running a brick and mortar business.

Businesses are seeing their ability to adapt and change as a competitive advantage.

Businesses with cash reserves and online models are thriving.

Businesses who are slow to adapt, afraid of technology, and who lack an online presence are dying.

There is good news: we are only a month into this situation, and it’s not too late for you to adapt. But it will be too late if you sit back and wait for things to go back to “normal”.

Do you remember 9/11?

Do you remember how life forever-changed after 9/11? You have never flown with the same ease and grace you had before 9/11 since that day.

Fast-forward. This is the same situation but – it’s for how you operate your business.

You might think this sounds harsh, and if that’s you, I hope you are being jolted awake and even feel a tiny bit of fear. You should feel that way because it’s time for radical change – or your business will not survive.

Fear isn’t fatal – but inaction is.

It’s time for you to lead, get online and go all-in, or it won’t survive this.

Don’t buy into the myth that it’s too late. It’s not too late yet. It’s okay if you’ve felt paralyzed up until now.

But if you act now, if you start marketing on social media, building your network and establishing a greater presence online, you can transition to our new normal, but if you wait…

You’ll likely be looking for a job.

Don’t wait. Do these 5 things instead:

1. Double-down on your content. Create content every single day and share what you can to add value online.
2. Double-down on personalized messaging to your clients. Don’t sit on the couch and binge-watch Netflix. Talk to your customers, stay top of mind.
3. Find ways to offer what you do online. If you have a service, find a way to offer it virtually. If you sell products, find ways to sell them online.
4. Obsess over learning basic online marketing skills, lead generation, sales funnels and paid ads. You need to understand the business of the business online if you’re going to win.
5. Be fanatical about getting back to people. Your reputation online will make or break your business. Don’t make people wait for you to get back to them while you binge-watch Game of Thrones.

How are you going to transition your business online or focus on growing your platform there? Tell me in the comments below.