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Beautiful watercolour prints from Australia

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      07 July 2017 by Sarah-Jane Smith

sjsmith.com.au - blog

Change is good

Business Evolution

Every business has its fair share of ups and downs.  There are times when your sales may take a tumble through no fault of your own and there are times when you may see an unexpected peak.  You can't always foresee when the ups and downs are coming but it is important to be vigilant about when changes are happening in your business and to make adjustments for it!

In my cleaning business, one of the biggest changes came with a change of government.  There was legislation to increase award wages for cleaning staff by 16% and we had one days notice of the change.  Luckily, we had it in our terms and conditions that any legislated changes to pay rates would be borne by the client.  The fallout however, was that we lost nearly 30% of our customers!  That called for speedy belt tightening to weather those changes.

In my online store, my dreams of being the crochet queen were dashed when my hands became too sore to hold a crochet hook.  The unpredictability of my rheumatoid arthritis also meant that I had to deal with fluctuations to my energy levels. I needed to adjust my business to something more manageable for my condition but that would still provide an artistic outlet.  So instead of large scale original acrylics I changed my focus to digital watercolour prints that I could develop from my own photographs. My business now bears little resemblance to my original store and products but it's just as fulfilling (and easier to manage!).

Change may not always come in the form of a downturn.  Sometimes the changes that come will be positive, like a surge in sales.  Being prepared for the upswings is equally as important as being ready for downturns.  Do you have adequate resources to deal with the surge?  Do you need more stock, staff or raw materials?  Do you have a budget to deal with it?  Are you going to need to find additional finance to cope?

You can't always decide when or how things are going to change but by being ready to adapt you can ride out the successes and downturns.  When things in your business change, (and they will at some point) don't be afraid to change with it.  Sometimes the evolution of your business can leave you with something that's better suited to you anyway!

Till next time,


Sarah-Jane X


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