We have quite an early Easter this year, and it’s nearly upon us. Whether your take on Easter is the death and resurrection of Christ, the rebirth of spring or just a time to gorge on chocolate, it’s a time for hope and new beginnings.
So how does this affect your business — assuming you don’t happen to be a chocolate manufacturer, of course?
Easter
Although Christmas surpasses it in secular terms, Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar, marking the time of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. It was a festival before that, though. The Jewish Passover falls at around the same time, and pagan Europe celebrated the Spring Equinox. The strange, movable date of Easter is a legacy of the lunar calendar used by both.
Whichever interpretation you want to put on this season, then, it’s a time of new hope and new birth. And those are both things business needs.
New Hope for Business
You’ll probably be hoping that the “Beast from the East” is behind us, and we can look forward to warmer weather, at least — even if that doesn’t guarantee sunshine. Business has also had to cope with its winter, ever since 2008, and times have been difficult. Just in the last couple of months, familiar companies from construction giant Carillion to retailers like Toys R Us and Maplin have gone bust.
In some ways, though, it hasn’t been so bad for small businesses. SMEs certainly fail on a regular basis, but those with the skill to navigate beneath the radar of the recession have been able to thrive. It’s possible that we’re seeing the beginning of the age of the SME, where lighter, less-encumbered companies will be able to manoeuvre through the ever-changing requirements of the market more efficiently than the giants.
A New Beginning
Easter is a time for new beginnings and, whatever you think of Brexit or the way the negotiations are going, the post-Brexit business world will be just that. More important for any given business than what the landscape will look like is the agility to adapt quickly to that landscape, before your competitors do.
Part of that is having strong and flexible systems in place, but it also means having plenty in the pipeline, so that your options are wide open. If you need help with that, give us a ring and see how we can unclog that pipeline.
And a very Happy Easter to you.