The game of business never really changes, except that markets change all the time.
In order to survive, you have to be somewhat nimble and able to flex. Without that skill, businesses die. And when a business dies, so does the economic and community impact its able to make.
Simon Sinek calls this “Existential Flexibility” in his book, The Infinite Game.
When times call for a change, you either change or die.
This is one reason we just decided to make a major change in our business: We are adding back in a service division for local customers that we sunsetted a few years back: Commercial and Residential IT consulting, computer repair, and home theater installation.
We were always a technology company. Even well after transitioning to building websites full-time, clients would refer to us as their “tech guys” or “IT people.”
That’s another lesson all its own: You have to understand where people place you in their mind. This is called positioning. Some of it can be helped, some can’t. In my mind, when we shifted to website design, we should have occupied the “creative professional” space. But more often than not, we occupied the “tech guys” space.
So which is the bigger failure? The failure to change that perception, or the failure not to recognize what the perception was?
It doesn’t really matter now.
The point is that website design is just one facet of the work we do. It always has been. We’re only now accepting that reality.
You may wonder: “Steve is this an admission that web design is dying?”
The answer is… I don’t think so. While I know plenty of struggling web designers, I know plenty of thriving ones too!
I would be lying to say the last year and a half or so has been without issue. And to be sure, the initial impetus for considering adding these services back has been reactionary.
Having taken some time to step back, though, I believe this is actually a proactive move. It simply took moving my subconscious thought processes into my conscious mind to really see it.
That sounds esoteric, but it’s quite practical. I have spent hundreds of hours thinking about the future. How will our industry survive? What aspects of what we do are timeless? How much time do we have left?
I know this sounds grim, but I have a very hard time seeing “web design” as a thriving industry in 10 years.
It won’t be dead, but it will be a shell of what it once was. I can speculate as to what that means, but it’s hard to know. Time will tell.
Bottom line is: The future belongs to the technologists. As long as people are living and technology exists, the less tech savvy will need help applying it to their lives.
That certainly could include websites. It could also include computer repair, consultation around TVs and audio systems, productivity apps, etc.
This decision is about returning NorthMac Services to its roots as a technology company. To flex more easily. To explore strange new worlds. And all that jazz.
So, here’s to the future past!