A positive mindset in business is everything. It plays an important role in every situation. We are currently living in a world where we are forced to adjust to a new reality. COVID-19 has hit us all in every aspect of our lives. Regardless, we must embrace reality and deal with the situation at hand. At the beginning of 2020, no one predicted or had the idea that COVID-19 would bring the world to a halt. Due to this pandemic, Schools were closed, People lost their livelihood, our communities were locked down for months, business transactions were halted and business owners lost their customers and partners, and the most saddening, lives were lost. COVID-19 pandemic is one that has pushed us to the corner but as a popular saying goes, if someone pushes you to the corner, you push the corner.
Business owners must forget about what they have lost and focus on what is working now and adapt to their business.
Yes, it’s tough, but business owners should have a positive attitude to bounce back in 2021 by building new habits.
Below are 5 habits Business Owners need to build in 2021.
1. Demonstrate Resilience as a Business.
Resilience according to the Oxford dictionary is the ability of a person to withstand or recover quickly from a difficult condition. It cannot be stressed enough that, the pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities in some businesses and made it difficult for these businesses to operate. However, a successful business goes beyond money-making when everything is ok. It also means having the staying power to survive and thrive in the not-so-great times. Since the year is still young, now is the best time for us to reflect on the challenges we faced during COVID-19, plan, set goals and devise strategies to sustain your business throughout the year.
2. You must be Adaptable
Let’s be honest with ourselves, our world is constantly changing. As business owners and entrepreneurs we are not exempted from experiencing these changes. Although we may experience challenges, it shouldn’t deter us from taking the next step. In every situation, we have two options. We can either fight or take flight. There will always be business owners who rather not adapt and wait till the clouds roll by. However, there will be few business owners who will assess their past experiences and identify new opportunities amid the new realities.
Being adaptable simply means you are ready to make the best of whatever happens. For instance, during the pandemic, some businesses were very quick to offer their products and services during the lockdown. They were eCommerce ready, and that helped them to sustain their customers and their brand. Other businesses with one 1 offline sales channel, had no choice that to stay locked-down.
3. Know Your Customers.
it’s impossible to start and grow your business if you can’t identify your customers. Your business started from being able to identify their needs and meet such needs. We should always keep in mind how we began. Increasing in the knowledge of your customers’ is very necessary if we are going to improve in business. 
You must engage and encourage them to give feedback on the services and products you offered to them. This will help you to understand their persona better and improve based on their responses and requests. Also, business owners should be aware of customer churn. Churn means customers that stop patronizing. We should always know why their customers stop patronizing, so we can be better informed to prevent a reoccurrence.
Businesses should implement tools and processes to keep their brand top-of-mind with customers. This helps the customer know that you know them. For example, wishing your customers Happy Birthday on their birthdays, sending thank you messages, reaching out when customers have not patronized in a while. This will go a long way to help you attract customers, retain the ones you have and increase repeat increase sales in 2021 and a tool like Loystar is available to help you achieve all these easily!
4. Use Digital Tools
There has never been a better time for business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers to come to terms with the reality that technology is the new normal. Business owners should take advantage of it and make good use of the digital tools available to promote their businesses in the year 2021. As the world was made to physically distance itself from each other in 2020, we are now in a low-touch economy. Some of the digital marketing tools that business owners can use to thrive in this new system is Loystar ; a multi-channel digital commerce platform that enables merchants sell and drive repeat sales in their business.
Loystar offers a POS system that allows merchants to record sales transactions, view a daily summary of sales transactions recorded. Also, the Stock Inventory tracking feature on Loystar allows merchants to keep track of their inventory and stock levels. After a sale is recorded on Loystar, the quantity of stock is automatically updated, allowing the merchant to easily track of their inventory and easily know just how much product they have from time to time. The Loystar platform is suited to industries like Food and Beverage, Hospitality, Oil and Gas, Fashion, General retail and e-commerce.
5. Keeping Financial Records
There is no denying the fact that, the success of any business is closely related to the ability to keep accurate records. It is therefore important for businesses to practice financial record keeping without any errors. A popular business quote says, ‘’ if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’’. Keeping precise financial records is the only way to measure your business growth and help you in identifying your various income sources, expenditure, and more importantly, aids in decision making.
For micro and small businesses, this can be challenging that’s why we have made this process a lot easier for business owners on the Loystar platform. With an Accounting Integration like the one we have with our friends at Accounteer, business owners enjoy real-time book-keeping and are able to understand their business better and access capital when needed. This is one habit business owners should adopt in 2021.
Conclusion
Dear business owner, let’s face 2021 together with a sharp mind. Although 2020 was a tough year for most but 2020 also birth several success stories. COVID-19 has changed the way we live. It changed the way we buy, invest, and mostly the way we do business transactions. This is a reality that we must face as business owners and marketers. Reality can either be harsh or easy but it is up to us to identify and focus on those bits and pieces of what works and perform more of those.
These 5 habits have been identified as the most critical for your business success in 2021. These 5 habits were first mentioned on a Cherie Blair foundation: Road to Growth webinar presented by Elfreda Sheriff of Kilsah Consulting. We hope you imbibe them to sustain your business, win back your customers, attract new customers and increase sales. To your success!
