Precisely how do we characterize the word essential? The global health crisis is equally a socio-economic problem at the core of it all, and everyone’s needs remain the same—food, shelter, rest. The only thing that’s ever changed is how much harder it is for a lot more people to access these necessities.
As many enterprises continue to operate during these troubling times, we’ve all become involuntary guinea pigs of a barely defined new normal. For instance, the elaborate food industry is progressively metamorphosing as larger groups of people now eat at home more and rely on delivery services. Other regular activities have seemed drastically foreign all of a sudden, too. Even consumer buying behavior is steadily evolving. Many of these trends were expected, while others came as a surprise.
It’s easy to guess what people need because, as social, breathing beings, our fundamental needs haven’t changed all that much. We all still turn to the primary solutions that keep us alive. And because we’re a predictable species, we often take the quickest route to meet those needs. When this isn’t the case, the presence of other qualifying needs must be in progress.
The same all-encompassing philosophy applies in entrepreneurial practices, ultimately determining and catering to the needs of customers in atmospheres that continuously unfold, advance, and mature. As a result, our ongoing takeaways of current events almost always continue to challenge our assumptions and re-shape our understanding of what holds value and what doesn’t.
No choice but to start over
As the pandemic keeps rolling in, our most threatening challenges are yet to come. Enterprises have either dramatically adapted to modern demands or shut down altogether. Consequently, the business ecosystem we’re all a part of is affecting the broader economy and driving all sorts of change and opening new doors.
All these factored in, these events contribute to the new reality we have no choice but to engage with. While the mountains we conquer today are customarily unique, the era we brave here and now isn’t any less formative and impactful. Let’s examine a few startups who’ve chosen to rise above the challenge 2020 has thrown at them.
Re-defining Work From Home (WFH)
The WFH set-up has drawn mixed reactions from a lot of corporate professionals. No people in the history of all lifetimes have had to forcibly work from home because of a fatal pandemic. Today’s collective remote work experience has definitely switched up the way industries approach business. But it also gives us a preview of how, in the future, our workspaces and job arrangements can change. In other words, our pursuit of employment today has brought up a unique host of challenges on its own. After all, people aren’t only working at home. We’re also balancing familial, academic, and communal responsibilities, and juggling each one within a shared, limited space, can feel dreadful.
Modular home seller, Dwellito, realized this earlier on. One of the pioneers in the tiny home movement, they remain faithful to their core mission while now tapping into the tiny office market, as well. Simply put, they didn’t have to restrategize their game. Instead, they now had a more exciting role in proving the value of their business proposition.
To better appreciate what they do, it’s best to understand that Dwellito is a marketplace and not a manufacturer. Meaning to say, they are solely the platform in which these products are sold, but they do not build the prefab modular spaces themselves. And because they’ve exhausted every single one of their tiny offices, the insight they hold into this buying trend catapults them into an authorizing position, making them able to talk about the future of physical office environments credibly. Soon enough, this may even potentially challenge the co-working space business.
For instance, they can explore answers to questions like, what are the most challenging things about a home office set-up? What other products and services can we put out to help improve this? Who else can we partner and collaborate with to meet these individual demands?
Although it’s clear that some remote teams will definitely resume corporate office arrangements soon enough, studies say some enterprises will carry on with their present WFH engagements.
The future of employment
From a little over six million only in February, there are now more than fourteen million unemployed Americans today, one report says. The data surrounding business closures and layoffs are overwhelming, and since COVID-19 is yet to show signs of containment in the next couple of months, one can predict more people are likely to lose their jobs.
One such empathetic solution to this crisis is an employee exchange market place. As the concept implies, this solution allows enterprises to share the costs of keeping a workforce alive to avoid permanently terminating staff members. This is exactly what the Brazilian company, Meiuca, is about.
While obviously born out of a job crisis, this employment model is revolutionary in that this can forever alter the way we approach work and life. Not only does it cultivate occupational resilience, but it also helps nurture alliances that can positively impact the way we see entrepreneurial partnerships, as well.
All in all, this pandemic is forcing innovations to keep coming. Our new normal is continually being challenged, improved, questioned, and defined. And more than ever, startups are at the forefront of change.
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