Riding it out
Riding it out
Since the COVID outbreak, my inbox and social feeds have been flooded with stories of business owners grabbing the bull by the horns and dramatically reinventing their business. While these are, in many ways inspiring, they’re also stirring up a whole bunch of anxiety. Am I missing out? Am I too negative? Should I be doing more?
Of course, by definition of being a business leader is to, frankly, lead a business through good times and bad. And while a crisis of this magnitude is no time to put your head in the sand, it’s also completely okay for a leader to be a human being who’s overwhelmed, tired, and uncertain.
And so, as you’re assessing the many decisions, risks, opportunities and next steps facing your business, I want you to rest assured that sometimes your best “pivot” is re-calibration versus re-invention.
One of my businesses is an indoor cycling studio that closed on March 15th. Since then, Torq has fielded hundreds of requests to rent our bikes and start virtual rides for people at home.
Many are baffled that we haven’t jumped on the virtual work-out bandwagon like everyone else. But when we assessed the pros and cons (and in particular the ROI), the answer was clear. Making that kind of shift in our business operations doesn’t align with our brand.
Torq’s brand position is to create a place where our community feels connected. The operative word in our tagline: “It just feels good to be here” is the word “here.” A pillar of that is sweating the small stuff. We’ve always had rigorous cleaning procedures that go above and beyond industry norms. Our bikes are subjected to a preventative maintenance program so that we can stay ahead of inevitable issues. This standard is impossible to meet if you’re renting bikes.
That’s why, instead of making a radical change to our brand, we opted to sell our surplus bikes when we had to close. This initiative generated the necessary cash flow to pay for essential business expenses for the short-term.
When it comes to offering virtual rides – the investment outweighed the benefit. At Torq, we pride ourselves in our studio sound system, and our bikes provide a live display of a rider’s power output, intensity, RPM and distance clocked. For us to replicate that virtually would take time and resources we don’t have access to – while industry heavyweights like Peleton have already perfected the at-home virtual cycling experience.
Knowing what we’re good at means knowing what you’re not – so instead, we’ve focused on creating a platform that promotes the personal training services offered by our instructor community so they can replace some of the income lost from our studio closure. We’ve also given our team access to experts who can help them apply for the many government benefits available to them.
Since we decided not to reinvent the service that brought us together in the first place, we’ve decided to stay connected to our customer-base by launching a community fundraiser called Gratitude, Delivered. This program allows our riders to fund meals for front-line healthcare workers. In just two hours, we met our fundraising goal of providing 200 meals – so we’ve kept on going – and have now rallied other local businesses and delivered thousands of meals.
To some, these shifts appear too small in times of big change. But when looked at in the context of our brand, small moves done well can make a profound impact. A pivot doesn’t have to be a 180-degree turnaround or a leap forward. Sometimes it’s just a shift sideways. So, if you’re feeling the pressure to transform your business – don’t. Your most strategic move may be to ride it out.