In the last few days the world as we know it has changed dramatically. With the ever-expanding reach and impact of coronavirus – Covid 19, daily life has been interrupted, halted, and threatened. Borders have closed, movement has been limited, social distancing is expected if not required. Remote working is the new normal and our children are home from school. It is a strange and unnerving time that has the capacity to cause us to panic, be fearful and uncertain. Many of our businesses’ very existence are threatened by the lack of customers being able to utilize and access our services or buy our products. We are all left wondering how long it will take before this season will pass? When will life go back to normal?
What if this is our new normal? What if life never goes back to exactly how it was before? Those who have been unfortunate enough to experience living through a natural disaster will tell us that life is never quite the same again. Life doesn’t just go back to the way it was.
As we contemplate doing business in this new world, what if instead of holding tight to everything we’ve known and clinging to our existing way of doing business, we start to focus on creating a new sustainable way of doing business. How can we pivot, innovate, rethink, reimagine, start again? The best leaders amongst us will not be stopped by Covid-19, new opportunities will exist, new jobs will be created, businesses will be re-envisioned and re-purposed. It will take effort, willingness, and vision but pandemics and other global interruptions are likely to be part of our future. A new normal is coming into being before our very eyes. No one likes change, especially when life becomes harder than it was before. However, new innovations, revolutions, and dramatic changes often come out of hardship, challenges, and dark times. These are dark times, but there is also light, it will just take the visionaries amongst us to be brave enough to lead us into the future.
In 2009 at the height of the global financial crises, Jake and I started our business Under Canvas. Starting a business during a recession and a global one no less was not an easy task but during that time what was born was not only a new business, but a new way of traveling and experiencing the outdoors in the US that ultimately pioneered a whole new industry – Glamping. Similarly, this is a season in which new industries will be born, new opportunities will be created and in which we will adjust to our new normal. Now is the time to start adjusting. We don’t have time to hold on to the past, our businesses won’t survive if we do. We have to embrace the new with both hands and lead our businesses, communities, cities and nations into the future. Entrepreneurs have always been positioned to be incredible leaders, because they can imagine and see what others can’t. Now it’s time to do just that to reimagine what is possible and recreate your business’ future.
Sarah Dusek, Co-Founder & General Partner of Enygma Ventures
