Are You in Danger of Becoming Kodak?

"Kodak Pictures Spots."

"A Kodak Moment."

Paul Simon's song, "Kodachrome."

Growing up in the '70s,  Kodak was the memorable, iconic brand.  They were everywhere like Apple or Walmart are today. Everyone knew them.

A visit to Disney meant stopping at "Kodak Picture Spots."  A "Kodak Moment" meant something special was happening, "Quick get your camera."  Paul Simon's song "Kodachrome" was going to be called "Going Home."  He changed the name, released it and hit #2 on the Billboard charts.

What happened?  Where did Kodak go?

I visited Rochester, NY a few years back and their HQ building, with the big Kodak name still engraved on it, is a community college campus.  The sharp tech folks that used to work there only have their stories to tell.  The company's now a fragment of what it was.

Kodak was so hyper focused on their photo film development business, it missed out on digital photography.  While focused on fighting off Fuji, who was making inroads into film development, HP and others whizzed them by them launching digital photography into what it is today.  That made film development obsolete.

One bad decision and a single technical innovation wiped them out.

Kodak had the digital photography technology.  They had the cash.  They had the brand and name recognition as THE photography company.  They could have been the ones behind digital photography and they could have been the ones to champion that.  The higher ups did know about digital photography, didn't think it was something that would take off.   Now they're a case study in what not to do in business.

Could you be a Kodak in the making?  Are there competitors with you in their cross hairs looking at you and your industry:

• like HP looked at Kodak,
• the way Uber looked at taxis or
• planning your downfall how Amazon rethought book selling?

Of course as business owners, we all hope that won't be us.  Not a single one of us is wishing for an end like Kodak, Blockbuster and any of the others that missed a now obvious trend.

I'm really hesitant to be say, "It will never happen to me."  I'm actually thinking, "It's going to happen to me."  I sit perched like Tarzan with a knife in his mouth waiting for alligators.  (I always loved Tarzan. Showing my age again.)

I bring this up not to put fear into you, but to have you consider what an expert can do with the knowledge you use every day in your business.  You have the expertise.  You deliver services as a consultant, attorney, accountant, consultant, coach or some other expert.  Today you it works well delivering services in person or one-on-one over the Internet.  I'll assume your customer's are happy, but is there some disruption brewing that potentially change all that.  And look at how quickly it can happen like when Uber reinvented getting a ride across town.

Consider what it is that you do.  You have expert knowledge or you wouldn't be in business.  Consider how you can re-purpose, re-invent, re-package what you know into an online course or coaching program.  What is the online equivalent of what you do?   I am sure if you aren't, someone else is certainly scheming and studying what you do from all angles looking for an opportunity you could be missing.

Could that mean the end of you or is that something that could never happen?

Take a look at my new mini-course (soon to be released as an e-book) that goes over what it takes to take your expert knowledge and transform it to it's online equivalent.  Following a proven process, it can be very methodical and straight-forward.

All the details are at www.theprofitableonlineyou.com and it's completely FREE.  See how this might be something you use to get you ahead of the trend so you avoid being the one that gets ripped to shreds.