The Necessity of Business Evolution

Can you ever forgive me?

I now sit in my new writing salon at St Regis Bal Harbor after saying farewell to my former writing locale, St Regis Atlanta, following my relocation to Miami earlier last year — one of many changes since we last connected.

I wonder how to begin again after abandoning you for so long, dear readers. I can only beg your forgiveness, and then share with you all my newly gained wisdom from my 24-month absence.

Truth be told, Dan Scott of Luxe Licensing is to credit for my return.  Remember him?

He and I were speaking about the challenges of being a business owner. I told him I’m fond of dissuading people from entrepreneurship just to see if they will listen. Those that take my terrible advice to forget it aren’t meant to be in business. But those who rightfully spit in my eye and tell me “To hell with you and your negativity!” might just have a chance.

Well, that is, until they fail the first time.  It’s what they do after that first failure that determines if they will make it.

Until, of course, they fail again.  And then, THAT will determine if they’ll make it.  Until, well, the next failure. And the one after that. And then the one after that.

If you don’t have many failures under your belt, then you’re not really trying to succeed in business.

Business Evolution in Challenging Times

I told Dan my company is now on its 11^th reincarnation. Yes, my company has died and been resurrected 10 times, but few people know this because I never gave up. I just figured out why I failed, evolved my business model accordingly and made sure not to make the same mistake again.

To be clear, dear readers, I cried many tears and ate many a Ben & Jerry’s as I figured this out. After ugly crying for days or weeks or months, depending on the failure, I wiped away my tears, got out of bed, and started again.

Dan suggested that some in the jewelry industry may need to hear about the possibility for resurrection, reincarnation and evolution right now.

Since my last column, the world has descended into madness. We’re dealing with a plague that, as of last week, is giving us a sequel of a sequel of a sequel. A menage-a-trois-quel, if you will.

In that time, many retailers and brands have folded, unable to bear the weight of what covid has wrought. It’s no mystery what happened and why.  What happened was inevitable.

The why is that many in our industry closed their eyes and stuck their fingers in their ears, singing lalalalala when advisors such as myself told them they needed to strengthen their ecommerce business.

“The future is online,” the most prescient of us warned. But very few listened.

So when ecommerce companies like my client ShopWorn.com began reporting a 40% increase month over month since the pandemic began, I wasn’t surprised.  People don’t stop shopping because there’s a plague, especially when retail therapy is often more valued than valium in challenging times.

The companies still standing today do so because a) their ecommerce site was up and open for business or b) they realized the inevitable had finally arrived and quickly pivoted to strengthening their website. They accepted the necessity of business evolution.

When I speak of evolution, it’s because this is what’s necessary for the industry’s continued survival. The future is digital.

If you’re one of the unfortunates battered by covid, take my return to the PR Advisor and your reading my first column in two years as your invitation to reincarnate and evolve your business.

Two weeks ago, I got into a heated debate with someone who couldn’t possibly believe people were buying $40,000 jewelry online.

“Believe it!” I demanded.  Because it happens.  Ask Tiffany’s, Cartier, Boucheron or any of the clients I’ve worked with in the past five years how much ecommerce drives their business.

“But PR Advisor, I’m not Tiffany’s!”

I hear your protest. And to that, I say, poppycock!

You’re only as big as your imagination allows.  You’re not Tiffany’s today, but if you would one day like to be, then continue following this column.  Because this is the reincarnation and evolution I will be leading you towards.

Even if you don’t aspire to be Tiffany’s, only want to build a decent business doing what you love, stick around, too.  You can get off the ride when we start discussing how to get Beyonce and Jay-Z to be your spokespeople!

It’s good to be back, dear readers. And I’m back with a wealth of new information and case studies to share with you over the coming months. I’m back to answer all your questions on how to transition to ecommerce and how to develop a communication strategy to attract those customers willing to spend $500, $5,000 or $50,000 with you online.

Until next month, my dear readers, I wish you a tremendously happy new year and send warrior spirit energy to push you forward in 2022.  In the next column, we go to work on your reincarnation.