bird flu – client k

Disconnecting From Reality

My Boomer Mom carefully curates
everything she sees and hears.

She doesn’t want unhappy news
so she deliberately
filters it out.

She lives in
a happy alternative world
where war and pandemics
and climate change
aren’t threats.

She is vaguely aware they exist
but she doesn’t believe
they will impact her
and she doesn’t want
to hear about them.

She’s not alone
in doing this.

As the world becomes
more and more challenging,
more people will try
to disconnect from it.

As business builders,
we don’t have that luxury.

Remaining connected
to the world
and to reality
will be key
to our success.

Resist the urge
to disconnect from reality.

Politics And Leadership

A buddy shared
that the government
isn’t worried about bird flu
or COVID or Candida auris
or any of the other health issues
floating around.

Why should we be worried?

Government leaders
and heads of government agencies
are concerned most
about being re-elected
and/or keeping their jobs.

That is their number one goal.

Protecting the average person
including the average small business owner
is secondary…at best.

And voters don’t want
to hear about pandemics
or wearing masks
or taking other precautions.

So leaders,
intent on being re-elected,
aren’t going to talk about it.

We have to make our own decisions
for ourselves
and for our businesses.

The government
will advise doing the bare minimum.

Do that bare minimum.
But also consider
doing more.

Because the government
won’t bail out
our small business a$$es
if employees or customers
sue us into the ground.

Protect yourself.

News Means New

A buddy was surprised
when I told him
bird flu was still killing
thousands of birds
and other animals.

He was investigating
starting a free range
chicken farm.

He told me he hadn’t seen
anything
on the news
recently about bird flu.
He assumed it was over.

He didn’t see anything
on the news
because
media got bored of that ongoing story
and moved on.

News, in today’s world,
means new.

If it is
disastrous flooding
in Europe
or wildfires in Australia
or COVID deaths
…well…everywhere,
the news isn’t covering it
because all that
is now considered ‘normal.’

(And also because
covering it doesn’t sell
their advertisers’ products
or promote their owners’ agendas.)

Don’t assume
if it isn’t
on the news,
it isn’t happening.

Do your own research.

The Revival Of The Travel Agent

Four years ago,
many people declared
travel agencies to be
a dead business.

It was super easy
to book flights
and hotels
and other vacations
online.
There was no need
to pay a middle person
to handle that.

In today’s environment
of climate change
and pandemics,
wars
and strike actions,
that has all changed.

Many people would love
to pay extra
not to have to worry
about all of that.
They would pay
to have someone else
monitor situations
and quickly rebook travel
and accommodations.

The key words
there are quickly
and monitor.

But those two requirements
are made easier
with AI.
Alerts can be set up.
Alternatives can be offered.

Dead industries
aren’t always dead forever.

Consider basing a new business
on one of them.

Flexibility As A Selling Point

Yesterday,
I talked about how
the world is challenged right now
and flexibility will be
key to success
going forward.

Flexibility will also
be a key selling point
for products/services
going forward.

It WILL influence
more and more buying decisions.

Flexibility could look like…

Offering cancellation insurance.

Making it easy for customers
to rebook services.

Allowing customers
to change delivery times.

Giving customers
a credit
when they cancel.

Allowing customers
to switch from pick up
to delivery.

Accommodating customers
with last minute bookings
or changes.

Flexibility WILL be
a selling point.

Can you factor flexibility
into your product or service?

Flexibility Will Be Key

A loved one and I
were planning to go on vacation
soon.

This vacation will likely
be postponed
due to a strike.

We’ll be okay financially
as we had planned
for a possible delay.

We had thought that delay
would be
climate change
or pandemic (COVID or the next one)
related.

It was a strike,
something entirely different.

Flexibility will be key
to success
going forward.

Try to make your plans
as flexible as possible
AND
try to increase
your customers’ flexibility
when using
your products/services.

Things happen.
They will continue
to happen.
Plan for that.

Listen To The Warnings

A buddy
called me a doomer
a couple of days ago.
He said
he didn’t want to hear
any more negativity.

That’s fine.
I prefer not to talk
about possible challenges.
I would rather
talk about TV shows
and other trivial topics.

I shared those insights
because I’d feel guilty
if his already struggling business
failed
or he and his family suffered hardships
because I HADN’T warned him.

No one wants to tell you
bad news.
It is a total bummer
for the messenger.

We tell you bad news
because we care about you,
because we feel
you should know about it.

You don’t have to act on
these warnings.
But, at the very least,
listen to them.

It is a communication
of caring.

Using Boredom To Your Advantage

There is a reason,
I suspect,
that media and leaders
are talking about Bird Flu now,
before it shifts
to human to human transmission.

And I don’t think
that reason is preparedness.

I believe leaders
are leveraging the tendency
for people to become bored,
to no longer worry
about threats
after a passage of time.

In a month or two,
bird flu will become old news.
It won’t interest people
because we will have talked about it
for a while.

When human to human transmission happens
and the sickness and dying occurs
in larger numbers,
there won’t be a push
to put protections in place
that might disrupt business.

Business builders
in the publishing industry
used this same tactic
to employ AI
for cover art, editing, writing.

There was big outrage
at first.
Readers then got bored
and moved on.
The publishing industry
is now rolling out
AI everything
and there is no pushback.

Realize that people
bore easily.
Use that
to your advantage.