And, we all should know by now that "CHANGE, IS THE ONLY CONSTANT". Millennials, digitalization, politics, etc & COVID are major forces that are affecting the whole business landscape in the world. But is this pure coincidence that all the changes that we are moving towards to, are associated with Period 9? The answer is No. Many practitioners would have already seen this coming a long time ago...
Covid-19 itself is an incident that forces many business models to change. But in a good way. Because it is aligned to Period 9. As we are transitioning to Period 9 from Period 8, it is crucial to understand how will this change in energy will impact the business landscape. In this post, I am going to share how you can adapt to these changes. Perhaps, a few pointers to consider when you are planning on your business long term. Now, here are the points that you need to take note of:
TARGET AUDIENCES: FOCUS ON MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN
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There will be a power shift from young men to middle-aged women. Period 8 (2004 -2023) is an era where the many young men turned into millionaires. A few great examples are, Mark Zuckerberg & Elon Musk are young men who turned into millionaires during this period. It is not that coincidence the fact that Facebook was founded in February 2004, Cambridge by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates. This is because, Period 8 is governed by Gen (艮) Gua, which represents the young men's energy. Meanwhile, in Period 9 (2024 -2043) the energy will be governed by Li (离) Gua, which is represented by the middle-aged women! Meaning transiting to Period 9, women will raise in power & authority thus, they will be the one controlling the income and finances. More businesses are going to involve more women, and society will respond to them better. With that, women are going to be the main source of income, thus they will be the one controlling the economy and have spending power. So, most likely, you may want to be attracting these women instead.
2. MARKET, PRODUCTS & SERVICES
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Period 8, is a male dominant market. During this period, most of the products and services are catering more towards for young successful men, example luxurious car, branded products and also houses. However, moving to Period 9, the female market will be in dominant. Also, as they will be the one spending, they will only want to buy products or services that are relevant to them only.
So, if you are a business owner or planning to start up a business, this is something that you might want to consider. Perhaps, when it comes to selling a product, you want to venture into a market where Middle Aged who like to spend their money to. If you do not change or tweak your product, you might get into trouble as the society will be more supportive to the feminine side, particularly to the mid-age women. Now, your job is to research on the mindset and thinking of a Middle-Aged Woman! :D
3. BUSINESS ASSET
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What is YOUR BUSINESS Assets to you? Period 8 talks about having physically owning something as an asset. Something you can touch and PHYSICALLY there. Unfortunately, this is not going to be the same anymore after this. Period 9 is all about FIRE (Li Gua), which means, the element is ever-changing, and your main business asset these days are ATTENTION. Yes, ATTENTION IS YOUR NEW CURRENCY. Unlike in Period 8, your values are based on how many staffs or company you own. It is not going to be the same anymore. So, the focus now is to SHIFT your strategy to get acquire ATTENTION. However, bear in mind that attention has a short lifespan, just like the Fire element. It will only last for a while and then you will need to gain more attention again.
4. MODE OF SALES
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Period 8 is all about the Earth Element. Because Earth Element is about stability and non-moving, the business model during period 8 is more of "I create something, you come here to get that thing" -- EARTH. Meanwhile, Period 9 is all about Agility & Movement. In Period 9, you might want to consider whether or not it's worth being STATIONARY at one place instead of going to your customer. Example, if you are selling coffee in a shop or do you want to mobilize your coffee with a truck? The idea is this - You are the service provider has to be able to cater to your clients, no matter where they are, and this is the Period 9 energy. And as we all know, it is ALREADY happening. So, you want to consider this part, unless of course, you have a physical store that can cater to the delivery very well. And if you want to start a new business, and having the mindset of Period 8; it is going to be tougher for you. Because what used to work will never going to work anymore.
5. PHYSICAL OR VIRTUAL PLATFORM
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As you all might already know, that these days are all about VIRTUAL engagements. Unlike in Period 8, where people are more into physical engagements, these days, people are LESS RELIANT on human engagements. And yes, that is the way to go actually. That is partly because Period 8, being a Gen Gua, which is the earth element is all about stability and trust. That is why many people are okay to not see things before they buy something back then. So, if you are going to run your business like THAT (Period 8 style), based on trust ONLY, it's going to back-fire during Period 9. Because Period 9 is all about VISUAL or VIRTUAL. Video these days are the prime selling tool. So, if you can't handle video or at least learn to sell via video, you might be in trouble. Selling will no longer JUST about the PRODUCT, but it has a lot to do with how the product can get your customer's ATTENTION.
6. WORKING SPACE & PHYSICAL RETAIL
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One might ask, does it mean that everyone will be working from home? No, not really, but perhaps many companies might not need that huge office space anymore and that co-working space will be more efficient and cost-saving for many companies. Why is that so? At the end of the day, we are the communicative creature. Working from home could be just a temporary effect to let employees know that their employers can be far from them and that by changing the working environment in a distributed style could be more cost-saving. So, for you, if you ever want to consider a huge physical office or a retail store, think twice. Probably space isn't that important anymore.
So, are you adjusting to the new landscape? And the next question is this, how fast are you adjusting to it?
"How agile are you?" - You can always check your BaZi Profiling to master your agilit, but first, you must know where do you stand first...
If you want to know more, I will be organizing a webinar sharing about your entreprenourial & business blueprint if you are interested in learning on how you can understand more about yourself and excel in times like this.
You can register at this link : https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zVBkVQHkS-CnwNkxY0aCrw
If you are more keen into 1-1 consult , feel free to drop me a message!