Looking Down The Road...

How do you want your business to change? Start with what it will look like today vs down the road...

When you think about your business, how do you see it operating five years from now? How about ten years from now? What do people think about your business now, and how do you want that persona to shift or morph over time?

Successful businesses must watch the future and be prepared to evolve and shift with customer demands. While this doesn’t mean that you must change your whole business model or mission, it does mean that you should pay close attention to market trends, marketing methods, significant shifts within your industry, and how you utilize technology.

Sticking with old methods won’t help you significantly if your audience changes their expectations of what they want or expect.

Children today cannot recall the thrill of setting foot in a Blockbuster video store, physically walking around, and browsing the shelves for a movie on a Friday night. What they have instead is a virtual version of the experience—the brainchild of Netflix.

When Netflix was founded in 1997, Blockbuster had been acquired by Viacom for the price of $8.4 billion. By the year 2000, Netflix approached Blockbuster, asking for a $50 million buyout offering to run Blockbuster’s online brand.

What happened? As the founders of Netflix recall, the CEO of Blockbuster laughed in their faces.

Blockbuster wasn’t thinking down the line. They were too caught up in their success and failed to realize that having an online video rental platform would be the way of the future.

The rest is history. By 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy with nearly $1 billion in losses. Meanwhile, Netflix signed deals with Sony, Paramount, Lionsgate, and Disney. By 2020, Netflix was valued at $203 billion, putting Blockbuster’s Viacom acquisition to shame.

**** "The future belongs to those that can hear it coming." David Bowie