I totally agree to what experts and mentors suggest that to build a successful business, you need to embrace changes, as changes are inevitable.
By embracing changes, a business is required to continuously improve itself. Or else, it will be run over by the rapid flow of information.
Now, as an entrepreneur, you and I want to keep up with the changes as much as we could. Even more, we want our business to be able to adapt and follow the changes well; we want our business to be versatile.
How to be versatile? Some examples
Here’s one major key to enable your business – offline and online – to be versatile: Give people exactly what they want.
For example: If you run an Internet advertising company, you might want to offer more options for your client to build an interactive ads, as it is “in trend” today – it converts more and appeal more to a site visitors.
Another example: If you own a meat shop, you might want to use Facebook to complement your flyer advertising to build a community that is more than willing to buzz anything you have on promo, locally; Word of mouth marketing on steroid.
One more example: If you own a blog, you want to make more money out of it, right? One of the best ways to do it is to write about the hottest trends this hour – this way, demand is always high and supply is always short, resulting in a horde of visitors visiting your site, and eventually might buy something from you (or click your ads, etc.)
How to build a versatile business?
Now, you already have some ideas on how to be versatile by offering people exactly what they want. To turn this into a business model, you need a couple of things to take care:
- Find ways to tap into the trends.
- Build a business system in which the trends can be converted into products/services.
- Create a channel to deliver the products/services whenever they are needed.
As novelty idea as it is, building a versatile business requires you one thing: Automation – my favourite way of doing business!
Here are a couple of versatile business ideas:
1. Online product design company
One example of this is Ponoko. The company allows members to design products, have the design turned into a real products, and members can have their own products or sell them to others in the marketplace – all set up in an innovative business ecosystem, consisting of material suppliers, digital fabricators, creators and buyers.
It’s innovative, it’s automated, and it delivers exactly what people want (they design their own!) – a successful versatile business, indeed.
2. Online press release company
Online press release website, such as PR Newswire, is the go-to site for press release publication. Again, the site incorporate a powerful back-end system, which allows companies to have their press release distributed to various media, including to journalists – and we all know that journalists are entrepreneurs best friend – they can make you and your business ‘famous’ overnight.
Another case of a versatile business model that naturally makes it “in trends” on regular basis (a PR site is often a news source for major publications.)
If you notice, the two examples above involve online activities heavily. This is only natural, as online-related business (including online businesses themselves) is required to be versatile to thrive.
Final words: How to be a versatile entrepreneur
As an entrepreneur and business owner, you need to learn continuously and embrace changes. What you know today might not be able to give you an edge to your business any longer in the near future.
You need to be ready for the new trends coming up, and when they finally arrive you can do something about them, immediately – who knows, you can establish a new business in a high demand niche with little competition before anybody else start to realise it?
To tap to the trends, you need tools. You need to learn to use the search engines, forums and social networks and have a mash-up of information out of them.
Go to business forums, read business blogs, read business magazines, join a business network, etc. – explore, explore and explore; then you distill what’s important to avoid information overload. This way, you can make well-informed decision making to guide your business into versatility.
If you have any ideas or comments to share, please do so by commenting on this article :)
Ivan Widjaya
Versatile business ideas