How Adaptability Can Be the Key to Success

The coronavirus pandemic has proven largely disastrous for many small businesses across America. While its devastating effect has cost jobs and livelihoods, it has also forced entrepreneurs to transform the way they do business for the better in a modern, tech-oriented landscape. Unfortunately, not all businesses can shift their business model into remote work when they rely on physical services and needs, such as restaurants and retail stores; yet some of these businesses are still flourishing, and others are even climbing toward pre-pandemic levels of success. So, what’s the secret to staying open and adapting easily to national economic fluctuations? 

Some 600,000 businesses are expected to close in the U.S. in any given year, and the pandemic caused an extra 200,000 hospitality businesses, restaurants, and nightlife haunts to shut their doors. However, this number is actually much lower than the Federal Reserve economists expected, proving that small businesses are still responsible for the strength of the American economy even in the midst of national upheaval. There are hundreds of success stories of small businesses who experimented and tested new products to sell online, thinking outside the box to save their business. One such example was a wedding flower shop, located in Alexandria, Virginia, which began to sell a variety of flower bundles and centerpieces online to make up for all the cancelled events that the coronavirus brought on. They also showcased local artists, florists, and ceramicists in their flower studio to encourage customers to come spend time in their pop-up markets and support them.

The secret to making sure your business is both prosperous and enjoys long term success is to remain adaptable. Flexibility—indeed, creativity—became the keys to keeping small businesses afloat in these uncertain times. The Harvard Business Review claimed that adaptability had become the new “competitive advantage” for small businesses way back in 2011. The novel concept proved to be generally true for most businesses—especially for those floundering in the pandemic—as entrepreneurs used new strategies to entice customers back into their stores, whether online or socially distanced. According to Harvard, adaptability means both resilient flexibility as well as your own attitude toward your work. 

Alliance to Save the American Dream strives to help small businesses become successful through innovation and creativity. If there is anything the pandemic has taught us, it is that as long as dogged entrepreneurs are willing to put in the effort to transform their tactics and put old ideas away in favor of new, small businesses will have the capacity to thrive.

The Alliance to Save the American Dream is a non-profit organization dedicated to three core goals.

1. Develop an Ideas Factory to give small businesses and industries a centralized place to share innovative ideas that must be considered.

2. Build a unique Resources portal for small businesses to go to for answers or resources that address a wide range of issues or challenges.

3. Offer a new networking opportunity for small business owners to connect while also giving them a platform to share their own personal stories.For more information, visit savetheamericandream.com.