In our last blog, we talked about businessman Joseph Schumpeter and a recent Inc Magazine article about him. He coined a phrase called “Creative Destruction” in 1942 to describe his consistent observation of how the same innovation that creates opportunity for one business destroys another.

In other words, change happens and we better be ready for it. Today’s internet and digital revolution are rapidly creating new industries, categories and millionaires. At the same time, many others are being destroyed as they shrink in size or influence or even worse, go out of business. Unless of course they are asking themselves ‘what do my customers really want’ then start looking for ways to reinvent themselves in order to meet new market demands.

It’s not easy to run your own business and most likely only someone that’s experienced their business imploding can truly appreciate an owners agony. We typically have good intentions but life kicks in and as author and business coach Robert Scott puts it, we end up just “going through the daily motions, reacting to the urgent and ignoring the important.”

Will you be the creator and developer of a new opportunity this year? Or will you find your business overtaken and destroyed by something (or someone) else? The goods news….we get to choose!