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The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has obliterated a lot of businesses up to the point where the global economy is facing a recession. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses and companies struggled to stay afloat and eventually went bankrupt, and millions of people all over the world became unemployed.
The future is looming over uncertainties, and a lot of people do not really have a lot of time to prepare themselves financially.
Even corporate giants weren’t spared. Case in point, it took 12 years for Airbnb to grow and build their business but it only took 6 weeks for the pandemic to destroy it.
Starbucks also announced that it will close down 400 of its stores across North America as they have projected billions in losses.
Dunkin’ Donuts, one of the world’s largest coffee and doughnut multinational companies, also reported that it will permanently shut down 800 stores in the US.
The luxury industry had ceased production for months that caused billions of dollars in losses and layoffs that have rippled across the entire world.
While the current economic climate is all doom and gloom at the moment, one thing that we can be certain of is that there is always an opportunity in the midst of a crisis.
ADAPT or DIE is the mantra of 2020.
There will always be a room to start anew. As an entrepreneur, it is integral for you to be able to pull up your creativity, learn a new skill, check what’s trending and self-reflect on how you could implement those into your business or business idea.
You have to be able to ADAPT fast in order to survive.
Those who do not pivot when market conditions change especially in times like this do not survive.
One should be able to overcome the defeatist attitude and be solution driven because the reality is that WE ARE IN THE NEW NORMAL where we’ll want to do some of the things we used to do in business, but we’ll have to do them differently in this new landscape.
Of course most people are more likely to be risk averse during a pandemic where there is no end in sight. But keep in mind that this new normal would call for INNOVATION in a lot of industries that would open up plenty of money-making opportunities for entrepreneurs to tap on.
Here are some recession and pandemic proof business ideas:
Online Businesses
This pandemic has catapulted us into a fully digital world overnight. And regardless of the nature of your business and whether or not you can transition fast enough to cater to the shifting needs of your consumers, RAPID DIGITIZATION is key to surviving this pandemic.
We’ve seen a dramatic increase in online consumption and we can still expect it to rise in the next few years.
One of the main advantages of online businesses is that the operating costs of starting and maintaining an online business is less costly than a traditional brick and mortar store. Starting an online business also allows you to tap into a broader market regardless of location, and your customers can easily access your store 24/7.
There are also plenty of economical marketing strategies that you can employ online such as building and growing your social media pages for free, Search Engine Optimization and email marketing.
1. Content Creation & Digital Media
As people are expected to stay most of their times at home, you can expect a surge of demand for online content. You can leverage on this opportunity by creating or managing online marketing strategies for brands or you could start and later on monetize your own youtube channel or blog.
Youtubers, bloggers, editors, videographers, graphic designers will be in demand because brands will find a way to stand out and promote their content to their target demographic.
To give you an example, if you’re in the gaming niche, you could earn money from it by streaming your games on youtube. Or if you’re into the health and wellness niche, you can make tutorial videos on how to do yoga at home, create cooking tutorials, etc.
The possibilities are endless. If you’re looking for a niche, here are the Top 10 Free Keyword Research Tools.
2. Software solutions
A lot of businesses, especially small and mid-scale businesses are facing challenges in transitioning their traditional systems into a digitised system.
A lot of businesses, believe it or not, do not even have online presence.
To solve this problem, you could create software solutions that will specifically target a company’s pain point. You could create a website, an app, or a software that would help those businesses automate their processes to increase efficiency and productivity, and to increase their sales.
As an example, one of the most prevalent problems during the 2020 pandemic is supply chain management. As an entrepreneur, you could help overcome a lot of businesses’ inventory problems by creating SAP (Systems Applications and Products) cloud and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software solutions.
3. Virtual Assistants
As the pandemic pushes on, a lot of businesses are finally recognising the need for Virtual Assistants.
Aside from reduced overhead and operational costs, outsourcing administrative tasks to professionally trained virtual assistants will help those businesses just focus on attaining and growing their core business needs.
Virtual assistants will always be in-demand and you’ll be able to work remotely, at home, even if your client is based overseas. Some important tasks of virtual assistants are – email marketing, transcription, call and email answering, SEO, etc.
4. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing, as defined in our previous post Legit Affiliate Marketing Programs:
Affiliate marketing is a commission or rewards based monetization strategy. By promoting the affiliate company’s products or services, you’ll be able to earn money from it.
Affiliate marketing is a risk-free way to earn money by simply advertising a brand in your blog, website, youtube channel or social media.
As an affiliate, a url or a unique link of a product will be given to you. Once a customer clicks on that link and buys the product, you’ll be able to track your sale and get a commission from it.
5. Online Learning, Education and Tutorials
This pandemic and economic downturn has propelled the need for online learning and education as trade schools, colleges and universities remain closed.
People who have been laid off will be be looking for ways to learn or expand on their skillsets while quarantined at home, so a transition to a digital form of learning is very much a necessity.
As an entrepreneur, you can leverage on this opportunity by creating apps, ebooks, pdfs, or stream tutorials, in addition to the content in your website, blog, or social media.
6. Ecommerce
We’ve seen a major shift in consumer mindset and behaviour as the pandemic kept many people at home and turned to online stores for their daily needs.
Did you know that Amazon doubled on their profits since the pandemic?
It’s not surprising to say the least. But even before the pandemic hit, e-commerce is one of the fastest and most lucrative industries for enterpreneurs.
If you have a traditional brick and mortar store, now is also the perfect time to create an e-commerce store to increase your brand’s reach.
Bear in mind, however, before delving in the world of e-commerce, it is integral to do market research and to know your niche and target demographics because standing out in the sea of competition is cut-throat. Not to mention that you’ll also be competing with giants like Amazon.
While building e-commerce sites can be easy and less costly, you’ll still have to spend a lot on advertising, customer-acquisition and retention, fulfilment, customer service and delivery.
In the midst of an economic downturn, it is also important to take into consideration the kind of products that you will be selling. Most products that are recession proof are mostly needs-based products like food, electronic devices, medicine, etc.
7. Delivery
With the surge of e-commerce websites comes the need for reliable delivery services. Even in the midst of a pandemic, customer expectation levels remain unfazed- expecting fast and inexpensive delivery of their orders.
Delivery is part of the overall customer experience that could make or break a business and of course, the longer the shipping time, the less your customers are going to be satisfied with a brand and therefore it could negatively affect brand perception and loyalty especially in the long term.
What most businesses do is rely on third party courier companies to handle the shipping for them as it is more cost-effective.
As an entrepreneur, this is an opportunity to start a delivery business and partner up with e-commerce stores and restaurants. Food delivery apps are also becoming more popular and it’s not going away anytime soon.
Check out 8 Best Courier Services in the Philippines for Online Sellers and Merchants.
