The future of our business does not lie in the way we have done business in the past. Where are the trees in our business that are disappearing.
Seth Godin, in his blog points to a New York Times article about how publishers are wholesaling E-Books to Amazon at the same price as a book made of paper. Yet, the paper, printing, ink, and machines to make it are not necessary and they don’t discount the E-Books.
The same goes for the newspaper industry. Newspapers are laying off employees, columnists, and writers as their readership for the newspapers takes a steep decline. People are reading more news than ever before.
Many people in a variety of industries have built their businesses around trees instead of focusing on the future of the industry. As Set says, “There are trees in the photography business (chemicals) and in the mustic business (plastic) and even in the personal computer business (computers). They may not be called “trees” but they are there.”
I walked into a title and escrow company in Pierce county and stacked by the door were all the file cabinets. They no longer have ANY file cabinets in the office. NONE! All the transaction processing is done on the computer.
What is the “product” you are selling? How can you react to the changes in the field? What do your customers think you are “selling?” How can you react to the changes in the market?
