This week, Lifestyle Tradie’s Andy Smith shares his predictions for tradies in 2020. What are the barriers for tradies in business? Where are the opportunities? What are the excuses? Most of all, how is 2020 shaping up for tradies who want to start up, scale up or sell up?
Let’s dust off that crystal ball and see exactly what Andy reckons will happen. We’d love to know if you agree or disagree with Andy’s predictions. Jump on Lifestyle Tradie’s Facebook page and tell us what you think will be your major challenges as trade business owners in 2020.
1. Climate crisis a threat to business
It’s been a helluva start to 2020. Extreme weather events, including the ongoing Australian bushfire crisis, have caused terrible heartache and tragedy. It’s also shown the power of human spirit shine through. We’re all feeling quite overwhelmed by what’s happening around us.
Without getting into the climate change debate, these intense weather events are bad economic news — they’re expected to sap further confidence in the Australian economy. What does it mean for us tradies when economic experts are predicting tough times and job cuts ahead?
When the economy takes a hit, many tradies haven’t got a game plan and end up in a world of pain. While it’s great to see the tradie community banding together to show hands-on support in this crisis, it’s important to keep your eye on your own business’s game plan in an uncertain economy.
2. Bite-sized goals are better for business
Did you finish 2019 with a bang, vowing for bigger and better things in 2020? Science says around a one-quarter of people give up on their new year’s resolutions after just one week. Wouldn’t it be less intimidating if we set three-month goals instead of unrealistic 12-month goals in January?
Truth be told, tradies typically don’t have huge attention spans. It makes more sense to focus on a 90-day plan. By writing down your quarterly goals, you can high-five and celebrate when you hit them. It’ll keep you motivated to reach your goals in the next quarter — and so on.
At Lifestyle Tradie, our members tell us having a 90-day plan is a helpful way to stay accountable and on track. Most of them are open about how hard it is to stick with longer-term goals. If you’ve got big plans in 2020, break them down into bite-sized goals — and go for it right now!
3. Fear of failure is no longer an excuse
Most tradies are a bunch of procrastinators. We think we know what we should be doing — actually doing it is often a different story. Basically, our fear of failure has got us shaking in our safety boots. We’re terrified of putting ourselves out there — so we don’t. In 2020, let’s shift this mindset.
Tradies tend to trip up because they’re too proud to admit we don’t know what to do. That’s why many traides turn to Lifestyle Tradie. You can’t get to where you want to go alone. More importantly, you’re probably stuck on where to start and not sure of the order in which to get cracking.
In 2020, don’t let your fear of failure keep you hammering away in your trade business without the tools to play above average. If you know your mindset is your barrier to breaking through in business, there’s everything to gain and nothing to lose from reaching out for help.
That’s all from Andy. What’s on your horizon for 2020?
