New biz. ideas for the New Year…
Compiled by Phani Pattamatta ed@tiehyderabad.org
2020 — the year that was. A year that completely disrupted our daily lives, forced us indoors, kept us from our routine, kith and kin. Most of all, a year that put the important things in life back in perspective. It’s also been a year marked by reimagining current way of working or doing business and exploring new ideas.
It has been an especially hard year for many businesses — dynamically changing consumer needs and customer demands, erstwhile successful business models becoming irrelevant almost overnight and pushing a lot of business owners to adapt quickly or disappear. Many other models that are digital enabled and market-ready, have seen unprecedented customer demand that forced them to scale fast and expand at a pace, like never before.
Thankfully, we’re nearing the end of this eventful year to start off a new decade. As we step into 2021 with positive news about the vaccine and brand-new hopes - on restoring social interactions albeit with stipulated precautions, I wish to share a few business trends for a post-covid 19 / CO-COVID world. I have compiled few of them over the past two years after meeting many startup founders, successful businesspeople and listening to thousands of idea & investor pitches at TiE Hyderabad
I revised many of them after the last 10 months of interaction with founders and leaders at incubators, accelerators, corporate honchos from India and around the world through numerous virtual webinars at TiE Global Most recently I was following the conversations with world leaders and global investors at marathon conference, TiE Global Summit 2020 hosted by us. Some of these learnings also shaped up while interacting with world leaders at the first edition of Global Entrepreneurship Awards
Here are 7 ways in which an individual can start a new gig very quickly.
Consultancy
Anyone who is knowledgeable and passionate about a particular field of work may find it very rewarding to work for themselves in a time where job security has drastically fallen due to the coronavirus. Individuals can enrol in certification courses to get expertise validated. All those experts who can spend few hours a day can always start this as their next big break.
Online Transcription Services
Transcribing online meetings, and of course medical transcription services are in hot demand these days and anyone with a good ear and quick typing skills can start doing this even as gig work and can scale up the business as it grows. A quick orientation session or pilots can get you started right from the comfort of your own home.
Medical Courier Services
Even with the recent foray of a few big corporates into this sphere, there are still a lot of opportunities to be grabbed by implementing a hyperlocal approach to this model, as demand for home delivery of medicines is starting to pick up, may grow exponentially if vaccines need last-mile deliveries. Partnering up with your local pharmacy and building up a network from there is a good place to start.
Online Teaching/Training
The rise of online education has opened up many doors for growth and creativity in this space. All you need to get started is a device with good camera, a microphone and knowledge about a particular field. There’s still an unmet demand for home-tutoring, exam-preparations or skill development. One can also enrol as a part-time trainer on the many well established online training platforms.
Hydroponics growers
Hydroponics has been all the rage for the past few years and is likely to be the same for the coming few as well. With consumers being more particular of where and how the food they eat is produced, there is immense growth to be seen in this business model. Many hydroponics companies also offer a franchise-based business options for individuals who want to have a quicker start into this.
Niche Dining
The restaurant and hotel industry has been dealt the toughest blow this year. Many people enjoy eating outside food, but within the safety of their own home. Organising niche dining experiences for house parties or events is a big opportunity. Individuals with the knowledge of luxury dining and ability to organise these experiences can start with a very low investment to enter the foodservice industry.
Stock Trading
Trading has always had a bad reputation and many misconceptions surrounding it, mainly due to the near gambling like tendencies new traders resort to. I see green shoots emerge in this line of work as there has been an astronomical increase in financial awareness, especially with the youth of this generation. If done right, this can be a very rewarding part-time gig for many.
I would like to end this year with a quote by Gen. Eric Shinseki, one which seems so very appropriate to me now more than ever — “If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.”
2020 has forced us all to change, and I wish this article helps you find a useful option to do so. Going forward, I plan to take each of these ideas and expand the same from concept to execution with a few examples.
Stay safe, stay focused, stay relevant will be the new mantra for 2021.
