If anything is constant it’s that things change.  This is becoming especially true with business models. When I say model I can mean a lot of things but in this case I am referring to a product, strategy, skill, or service that is a crucial component of how your small business operates. Generally, you would come up with this model and it would be the unique asset that led to you starting your small business in the first place. In the past these models had a long lifespan and you could remain in business for a while. Nowadays, as the acceleration in the pace of technological development increases the lifespans of these models is shrinking. An example might help. Consider the VCR. When it was first released, copious amounts of small businesses popped up offering complementary goods, like VCR tap holders and organizers, and high speed rewinders, just to name a few. Those products had decades of use before being made obsolete by DVD’s. Similar goods were made for DVDs but that only lasted a few years. The lifecycle was extended slightly by Blu-ray which happened to be the same size but even this is dying out as larger and simpler storage methods are catching on. The point is that the time between each innovative jump is diminishing and your small business need to be able to cope for such an occurrence. Commercial Appeal continues, with some advice on doing just that, “Since 1995, an unprecedented confluence of innovations has further compressed the time between model generations, resulting in anxiety and frustration for any business in love with its model. Not because of change itself, but rather the almost exponential increase in the velocity of change. Indeed, the life of a model that not so long ago would have been a calendar year is now measured in terms of an Internet year, which is 90 days.

The energy source propelling the increased velocity of marketplace change is innovations, but these are merely new tools. The manifestation of this increased velocity is new customer expectations. The good news is you can avoid anxiety, frustration — and failure — by asking customers these five questions — every day…”

1. What do you want?
2. How do you want me to tell you about it?
3. How will you use it?
4. When do you want it?
5. How do you want it delivered?

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