Last Sunday, we made the most of the perfect Queensland weather and booked ourselves on a day trip to Moreton Bay. It doesn’t get much better than cruising across sparkling water, swimming with colourful fish and sipping good wine while admiring the view. The crew we went with, River to Bay Cruises, are a relatively new business and it got me thinking about the bravery of the owners to start a tourism business in the middle of a global pandemic. But counting the number of peeps on the trip last Sunday, they seem to be doing very nicely. I’m sure this isn’t an accident. If you have a great product and can adapt to changing business circumstances, you could be onto a winner. And there are lessons in this story for older businesses as well. One of my established clients, a hospitality business, have struggled during the Brissy snap lockdowns. They may only be closed for a week at a time, but it effects their trade for a month afterwards. There just aren’t as many customers around. You only have to walk through Queen Street Mall to notice that. So, how do you drum up extra business when people are reluctant to leave their lounge room? My guys have come up with a fab idea. They are looking to the future and have developed kick-ass Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings with enough booze to keep Grandma happy at home over the festive season. The orders are flying in and things are looking up for this quarter! Just a simple, great idea with a few adaptions to their business model and they may just have developed a new group of loyal return customers. Like new shoots growing from the pile of COVID manure. So poetic! Have a think about what tweaks you could make to have your business flying across the waves on a sunny day. And if you need fertiliser for your new business shoots, I’ve started composting at home so hit us up for some liquid gold.
