Ruminations

Happy New Year

I am a dinosaur. Back when I was a kid we wrote in the dirt with sticks. Eventually we progressed to carving things into stone tablets. That was quite a change for all of us. But technology was marching on, and we were all dragged along with it.

Change is not something most of us embrace. At least not when you're from my generation. I have to imagine that today's youth don't really get a chance to get accustomed to things before those things change again. And again.

Being old, at times I can find myself comforted by nostalgia. Something that is familiar. Something that is as old as I am. That's why I was pleased to find the Twilight Zone marathon that was on TV over the New Year's weekend.

I'm not sure why these episodes were so easy to watch and enjoy. Maybe it was the stories that I kind of remembered. Or maybe it was just seeing the faces of actors and actresses I grew up watching. Whatever the reason, these shows were something old and familiar.

But just as you can imagine, stone tablets were replaced too. As was papyrus, and parchment. That's just how progress works. Who knows if paper will be replaced (if it hasn't already been effectively replaced by digital storage).

I know from experience that there are plenty of small businesses that are running on systems that are old and familiar to them. Something they are comfortable with. But ultimately those things are going to change too.

Sometimes it's that technology provides a better choice. One that's faster or cheaper or more convenient or more secure. Sometimes it's that the technology they are currently using becomes outdated or deprecated.

Whatever the reason for change, some small businesses will predictably resist. Don't get me wrong, it's not just small businesses who don't like change. There are many big businesses, even fortune 500 companies, that hold on to the old ways and old technologies.

All small business owners are going to have to face these changes the same way that all of us need to face the new year. It's coming whether we want to embrace it or not.

There will be some plans and promises, some resolutions, and even cases of actual change for the better. It won't be easy, but in the end, things are going to change whether we want them to or not. And we'll miss the old systems as we reminisce. In hindsight we'll remember them as being "easier" even if that wasn't really the case.

I'm sure that one day nostalgia, just like old technology, will be replaced by something else. Simply gone and forgotten.

Happy New Year to all of us. I hope it brings us, and our small businesses, what we need.

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