Matt Sweetwood is the multi-talented CEO of LuxNow; he is also a top business consultant, a personal branding guru, and a serial entrepreneur. As if there weren’t already enough strings to his bow, Matt is an expert photography instructor too. He previously founded and ran Photo Insider, and was the President of NJ’s prestigious camera store Unique Photo. Back in 2016, the photography industry named Matt ‘Person of the Year.’
Matt has contributed to a range of high-profile shows, including NBC Today Show, Fox News, and CBS TV. He’s spoken on behalf of organizations, including Microsoft, Panasonic, and the BMW CCA. In 2018, Matt wrote the best-seller ‘Leader Of The Pack,’ where he describes his road to success.
With all these achievements to his name, it’s pretty easy to see why Matt Sweetwood is so well respected in the business world. He has plenty of valuable insights to share, including his insights on business reinvention. Matt’s business reinvention tips are crucial for any entrepreneur looking to thrive.
- Continuous Reinvention: Matt often tells entrepreneurs that business reinvention must be a continuous process. He believes that ‘ The absolute best way to ensure long term survival and success is to continuously work on reinventing your business.’ Business reinvention is often driven by customer demand, competition, technology, and market trends. Not one of these factors remains unchanged as time goes by. As a result, reinventing your business continuously is the only way to respond to these volatile factors.
- Focus on the Positives: Matt knows that many businesses seek reinvention during a period of struggle. When times are tough, it’s easy to have a negative mindset. However, it’s important to shift your perception. As Matt says, ‘Don’t focus on the negative aspects of your business – that’s why you need to reinvent – focus only on the positives and imagine what kind of business just those positive traits and assets could create. He adds that ‘this will give you insight on where you need to pivot to.’
- Don’t Wait Around: Matt feels that many people approach business reinvention in the wrong way. He says, ‘The mistake that I think a lot of people make is that they wait until it’s too late to reinvent their business.’ Reinvention is often associated with a company in trouble, transforming to gain back what they’ve already lost. Matt instead suggests, ‘The time you need to reinvent your business is when you have the most market share, momentum, resources, and infrastructure to be a leader in a new business.’ Matt thinks that far too many businesses wait around to reinvent themselves when the process should already be part of an ongoing strategic plan.
How Can I Approach Business Reinvention?
- Determine Your Strengths: According to Matt, many businesses find themselves in panic mode the minute that they’ve established an issue. Rather than hit the panic button, he asserts that you should focus on your strengths. Your strengths are vital to reinvention; they are the key to help you achieve what you are lacking. As your business grows, you’ll naturally add to your list of strengths.
- Predict Problems Ahead: When your business is doing well, it’s tempting to sit back and relax. Matt advises that this is the wrong move and that thriving businesses should seek to predict potential future problems. If you are doing well, you should seek to improve regardless. Keeping up with the latest technology and trends in your industry can help you to anticipate future problems. You can also do this by keeping one eye on your competitors.
- Consider New Opportunities: Matt advises that you should never underestimate the power of your assets. You should be thinking all the time about the new types of business that these assets could bring you. It’s vital to be innovative and open to new opportunities, even if these are slightly out of your comfort zone. Matt Sweetwood previously reinvented his photography business, changing the operation from B2B clients only to B2C also. Using Matt’s dealerships and expert distribution, he was able to successfully transition to a new way of selling. When it comes to business reinvention, you should always approach challenges as brand new opportunities.
Business Reinvention is about transforming your business to perform better, drive success, and avoid failure. It’s about becoming future-proof and retaining that state by reevaluating your business all of the time. Business reinvention means always staying one step ahead. You must anticipate customer needs, competitor moves, and market changes before it’s too late to respond.
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