‘The Brexit Effect’ in Business

A human tendency we often tend to ignore in business is what I call the “Brexit effect”. This is when some people find fault with a product/service and spread their discontent to their near and dear ones. This tends to spread quickly and eventually becomes a movement. This may be a difficult task as negative feelings spread much faster than positive ones. The mood in this group of people becomes one of “we want change”, without assessing clearly the alternate they may be changing to. This effect can prove to be a big risk for any established business and must be addressed before it gains significant traction.

This effect may sound unreasonable and trivial. However, I feel this is the effect which has had serious implications on public decisions in the recent past (some events which we all know about ;) and is a problem established businesses are always grappling with.

Learn During Lean Periods

A Lean period can be defined as one where there are reduced work opportunities for a business. This may be due to weak market conditions, some policy issue or general sentiment of customers. What should an entrepreneur do during such a period? Learn.

Look Internally: See if you business is running efficiently and can be improved upon. Since you have a lot of time at hand, use this time to improve systems, processes and efficiency in your operations.

Read: Read up on the latest developments in your Industry and know what’s happening all over the world. Try to identify any opportunities to maneuver your business.

Plan: Plan for when the conditions and sentiment becomes optimistic again. Have a solid plan based on your previous experiences. Start building up resources and systems to be able to capitalize on the better periods ahead.