Over the next few weeks and months we're of course going to see drastic differences in the way businesses are run. As is always the case – those who can adapt will thrive, and those who don't will be at the mercy of whatever the government decides to help them with. As a group of resilient entrepreneurs I thought it might be a good idea to brainstorm some ideas for this new emerging economic structure. Maybe not idea that we're going to use ourselves; but getting some ideas out there may spark some thoughts for those who want to help and make an income during this time of economic and health-related crisis.
So how can we capitalize on an economic structure where people will be staying home. How can we avoid being a bunch of whining sissies that are dependent on government bailouts; whether personal bailouts or business bailouts. How can we add value in this new world that has been thrust upon us. What can we do to blunt the impact to our personal lives and to society as a whole.
One idea might be to provide shopping services for the elderly. Right now many older people are really scared to be in public and us younger people are in a position to protect them. So I think that a business that helps them get the things they need (for a reasonable delivery price of course) could thrive in this new economy. A business (or even self-employment situation) that basically provides personal assistance to any elderly person who needs it. Many of them aren't that good with technology so applications like Peapod (that delivers groceries) might be too complicated for them. Purchase items, sterilize them, and leave them on their doorstep. This is also massively scaleable if you could start a service like Uber for this assuming there's no shelter-in-place order in your area.
Something else would be giving lessons to the non-tech-savvy on how to do things from home. Teaching pastors how to livestream, teaching older Americans how to use Skype, teaching various workers how to freelance from home.
This one is my own personal bias but, perhaps teaching Data Science / Artificial Intelligence / Coding classes. People are going to have a lot of time on their hands and what better way to use it than to teach a skill that will be highly marketable as soon as this whole quarantine situation is over. Hell, it might be highly marketable even before this whole quarantine situation is over, since you can do it from home. So teaching any skill that will allow people to make money from home.
Perhaps an iPhone app that tracks when Grocery Stores are expecting deliveries.
So what can you think of? What ideas, business models or inventions do you think can help in a time like this.
So how can we capitalize on an economic structure where people will be staying home. How can we avoid being a bunch of whining sissies that are dependent on government bailouts; whether personal bailouts or business bailouts. How can we add value in this new world that has been thrust upon us. What can we do to blunt the impact to our personal lives and to society as a whole.
One idea might be to provide shopping services for the elderly. Right now many older people are really scared to be in public and us younger people are in a position to protect them. So I think that a business that helps them get the things they need (for a reasonable delivery price of course) could thrive in this new economy. A business (or even self-employment situation) that basically provides personal assistance to any elderly person who needs it. Many of them aren't that good with technology so applications like Peapod (that delivers groceries) might be too complicated for them. Purchase items, sterilize them, and leave them on their doorstep. This is also massively scaleable if you could start a service like Uber for this assuming there's no shelter-in-place order in your area.
Something else would be giving lessons to the non-tech-savvy on how to do things from home. Teaching pastors how to livestream, teaching older Americans how to use Skype, teaching various workers how to freelance from home.
This one is my own personal bias but, perhaps teaching Data Science / Artificial Intelligence / Coding classes. People are going to have a lot of time on their hands and what better way to use it than to teach a skill that will be highly marketable as soon as this whole quarantine situation is over. Hell, it might be highly marketable even before this whole quarantine situation is over, since you can do it from home. So teaching any skill that will allow people to make money from home.
Perhaps an iPhone app that tracks when Grocery Stores are expecting deliveries.
So what can you think of? What ideas, business models or inventions do you think can help in a time like this.
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