ImagesMagUK_November_2020

KB 33 images NOVEMBER 2020 www.images-magazine.com Stop protecting 2020, start thinking 2021 It’s time to move on from this year, says Marshall Atkinson, and start focusing now on how to conquer the first quarter of 2021 I ’m just going to say it: stop protecting 2020. This year, frankly, doesn’t need your help. It’s already rabid-dog mean. I’ve written several articles about how to reinvent your business, plus a book, Moving Past Disaster , that can help you recover from the pandemic crisis. A lot of businesses are finishing up the third quarter a lot stronger than they left the end of the second quarter of this year. The fourth quarter of 2020 might even become a winner if you have done the work and invested in an online presence with online stores or building the fulfilment muscles to handle other companies’ online store orders. But the one thing that I want you to really start focusing on is getting the first quarter of 2021 right. We need to be heading into this next year with clarity of purpose, strategic plans for the future, and the willingness to do what it takes to succeed. And you need to start now. Here’s why I’m saying this The pandemic crisis isn’t going to magically disappear this year. We are in a marathon struggle. The solutions that we needed to get this Covid-19 challenge behind us have not appeared. Small businesses everywhere, including yours, are still at risk. You can feel it in your gut, can’t you? I think we are all waiting for another shoe to drop. Will it be the appearance or non-appearance of a vaccine? A crazy crash in the markets? Maybe a farm plague on cotton? Who knows? I’m completely past trying to use my obviously inadequate tea leaf reading or crystal ball gazing skills. Likewise, that wishful thinking stuff isn’t working either: “If only we have a great November, we can end the year with some momentum”; “If only we have some decent sales this holiday season, it will make up for that dismal spring”; “If only we could find a (insert ‘production manager’, ‘press operator’, ‘salesperson’, ‘social media help’, ‘graphic artist’, or other position), we could be in better shape”; “If only we had more answers…” What is working is good old fashioned hard work. There is light at the end of the tunnel. But we just don’t know how long the tunnel really is even as we navigate through it. And do you hear a train whistle? Seriously, though, what is working is that businesses are reinventing themselves. Companies used to do one thing, but now they are doing something else. Or they disappear. Right now this is happening: ■ Millions of workers are learning that they don’t have to go to the office to get work handled. How has this transformed the way you or your customers work? Have you made changes to help? ■ Shopping malls were maybe-kinda- sorta on the way out in 2019. Do