Had a great chat with a businessman today. I was helping talk through some of the things I do when I build my platform and how that might apply to his business.
I realized, I was saying some pretty crazy things that were hard to digest. They went against common business principles. The world has changed, though. There’s a new economy. And adaptation is key if you want to be successful in this new world.
Here are a few big changes I’ve identified:
1. You no longer have to be big to make a big impact.
To be honest, I’ll probably never open an office building and hire employees. I don’t need to. I can actually make a huge impact in a decentralized, nimble way. That isn’t to say I don’t work with people. But I don’t need the traditional huge structure in order to do something that makes a huge impact.
2. Information is no longer scarce.
Newspapers used to hold the info people need. Then blogs came along and started putting them out of business. It spread knowledge wide. Well, knowledge has been spread again through Twitter and Facebook. Often I hear of news breaking more from my friends than from news sources. Information is everywhere now. That’s no longer a very viable product.
Churches really need to understand this. They no longer corner the market on doctrine.
3. Intellectual property isn’t valued.
Along those same lines, intellectual property is getting cheap. You want a graphic? Hire a dude in Indonesia to make one for you for five bucks. It’s cheap. Is that good for art? No. But it’s the way the economy is now. Entertainment is free just when I open Snapchat – either from media companies or my own friends. It’s everywhere.
4. Small has more opportunity.
Since the world is changing so quickly, the smallest organizations or the people with the least baggage will have the most opportunity. Changing technologies and trends always change. The people who are able and willing to hop on the next trend will be the ones who find the unique opportunities.
5. Trust trumps marketing.
Everyone and their mom knows about marketing. We’ve all seen Madmen and seen the nasty tricks they used to make us think smoking was okay. People are skeptical of marketing. Instead, people buy from brands and individuals they trust. Those who invest in trust will reap the most rewards.
So those are my five lessons from the new economy. What would you add to the list? What counter-intuitive truth have you learned about business in this new world? Share in a comment below.