“Tough times don't last, tough people do, remember?”―Gregory Peck
Earlier this week, I got a cold call from someone named Rochelle.
She does business consulting here in Amsterdam, is also from the USA and she is working hard not only survive but thrive in these uncertain times.
I know what it's like to do outbound sales like that, so I always give sales people a moment for their pitch. Especially, when it is clear that they're selling their own services.
Long story short: Twotone is considering working with Rochelle and, of course, I suggested that she share a link to her business & tips that I could share here. So, the following points are from her Forbes' article, entitled "How To Reinvent Your Business To Survive A Recession":
1. Flee to the Base In times of uncertainly, humans tend to ensure that their basic survival and security needs are covered before indulging in discretionary items. To increase the odds of survival, businesses should seek to get to the base of the proverbial [Maslow] pyramid by providing goods or services related to basic survival and safety, or by finding ways to support businesses that provide goods or services in these areas.
2. Change Delivery Model Consider either introducing a direct to consumer approach or partnering with complementary businesses that may already be delivering to consumers at home. No-contact service oriented businesses may consider moving from in-person to online service models.
3. Communicate Appropriately In the chaos, communication is often neglected. In an environment of crisis fatigue and cognitive overload, take the time to consider the communication approach, anticipate the response and adjust if necessary.
4. Adapt Commercial Strategy Remaining top of mind and reducing customer churn should therefore be a business priority.
5. Make Bold Changes Times of disruption are often the best to implement bold changes in an organization. These include changes related to culture, values and ways of working.
I found these points thought provoking & hopefully they get your wheels turning too!
thank you for reading and have a good weekend,
Jon
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The Bike | What, how and why do we ride?
Everything's Been Done Podcast & Livestream with Erik Nohlin
I've been a fan of Dustin's since his MASH SF days and I used to sell gear from his brand Cadence in my bike shop waaay back in the day too!
Last week, I saw Dustin interviewed another favorite bike industry luminary, Erik Nohlin. It's worth a watch/listen.
Also worth your time: Dustin went from interviewer to interviewee on The Broom Wagon with my friend Stefano!
Check it out: spoti.fi/3fSgKp5
Dirt 101 with Caetie Ofiesh, Jake Stangel & Ornot
Jake fields a bunch of questions from riders of all levels about riding on dirt/gravel with @caetiefish, filmed/edited/presented/supported by @ornotbike.
Right before I sent this, Ornot just put a version their site too to save you from watching am Insta TV video sideways on your laptop ; )
OLD BIKE DAY!
My Berlin based friend & fellow cycling marketing agency owner, Bregan highlights an old clunker of his in such a wonderful way.
Bikes are tools, not jewels after all and almost anything is better with some patina in my book.
"Finally, there are a few stickers, and like tattoos, they remind me of my youth and carefree times spent firmly believing that bikes were the future. And in this and many other cases, you know what’s funny?
I was right."
The Work | How Twotone & others are working
Far Ride Talks: Matt Ben Stone - Far Ride magazine
In this episode of Far Ride Talks, Matt talks about his path of becoming a commercial photographer and how his passion for cycling and motorsports helped propel his career. Among other things, we talked about how we feel about photographers without formal or professional training and film photography vs digital photography, print media vs digital media where things become a little bit sensitive.
Matt also recently took photos for The Sufferfest's #beatyourbest campaign.
Nice work, Matt!
PNW Refurbished Droppers.
Twotone knew James of Nixon & Friends from his time at Specialized. He's recently made the leap to launch his own agency and one of his first launches is PNW's new program for recycled dropper posts.
Pen Paper Steel's May Interview Series
I'm loving this interview a day for the whole month of May series! Recent addition featuring friends of mine: Ondrej from Chimp Bars, Rob of Quirk Cycles, Rotterdam based artist & fellow AMR racer Quinda Verheul & ex-pro Iris Slappendel of i-ris.cc. Awesome!
The World | How life is changing around the 🌎
Amsterdam is now using the ‘doughnut’ model of economics: What does that mean?
It’s a simple way to illustrate an economic system where the city doesn’t let anyone fall into poverty, while also living within a sustainable environmental footprint.
Need To Reinvent Your Corporation? Time’s Running Out.
A bit of a long read but compelling if you're running your own business of involved in steering the strategic direction of where you work.
Food for thought 👉
"You may still be around years from now; however, the equation underlying your business will have entirely changed. Whether you like it or not, you need to reposition."
Manager: how well do you master the art of remote work, on a scale of 0 to 4?
With the Covid-19 lockdown and crisis, telework is now talked about in a rather binary way. There are jobs that allow it (those behind a computer) and those that don’t (healthcare, logistics, transport). Therefore, either your team is teleworking or it is not. In between are only two options: unemployment or permanent cessation of activity.
Yet in normal circumstances, telework, like management, is not a binary thing.
Radness
Into the Rift is the story of the Atlas Mountain Race filmed by Brady Lawrence and it debuts this Wednesday, May 20 at 21:00 CET!
I'm stoked!