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In my college days, often more captivated by entrepreneurial ventures than textbooks, I started a project with a friend that would eventually grow into Minnesota Ice as we know it today. We've had to pivot on the fly to make it work, just as many others have in the last few years. Sometimes it's unconventional, but finding new opportunities to innovate, reacting to change quickly, planning, and being ready to change those plans will help your business survive and thrive in uncertain times. Here are seven lessons I took from pivoting during the pandemic.
The pandemic presented unparalleled challenges, where our usual ice-focused operations were suddenly infeasible, yet the imperative to keep our business afloat and our employees employed remained. Rapid innovation became our lifeline. With events paused and the hospitality sector, our primary market, in lockdown, our sculpture and cocktail ice business came to a halt. This called for rapid, out-of-the-icebox thinking, pushing us to be as fluid and adaptable as the ice we sculpt and sell. This shift was about mirroring the adaptability of ice itself and venturing into new realms of innovation. This thinking led us to branch out in several ways.
Your teams are composed of people from all walks of life with many different experiences. Use that! Ask your team members what their skills and strengths are and consider leveraging those skills. Many of my team members had experience in landscaping. I reached out to my network to explore alternative opportunities and this led us to offering landscaping services.
For two months, our dedicated team was immersed in planting trees, laying truckloads of sod, and shifting earth. This endeavor was crucial--it kept our cash flow steady, ensuring we could cover our employees' salaries and the manufacturing plant's overhead.
In times of change, it's essential to seize opportunities to collaborate and innovate with other business owners. We launched an online store with local companies, offering a variety of locally-made products. Customers could purchase meal kits from their favorite restaurants, cocktail kits from beloved bars, and unique items like artisan ice cream, Cry Baby Craig's hot sauce, and, of course, our top-quality cocktail ice. This initiative not only kept our delivery drivers busy but strengthened our ties with the local business community.
Every Friday, we united as a team to package these orders. This effort was more than just operational--it was a lifeline. It kept our business dynamic and supported our local partners during tough times.
Adaptability is key, and sometimes that means reimagining the use of existing resources. With some innovative modifications, we discovered that our in-house equipment could be repurposed to produce disposable facemasks. Our team tackled landscaping during the day and then returned to the facility to shift gears to mask production. We collaborated with Love Your Melon and a local hospital to ensure they had a steady supply.
As a leader, some recommend removing yourself from the weeds of day-to-day activities, but that isn't always a best practice. On many occasions, I would drive our team to the landscaping jobs. While they worked outside, I would be on my laptop finding new, innovative ways to keep our team busy. Stand solid as ice with your team in the face of challenges. When your team knows you support them, they will feel more confident following and trusting you.
When businesses are going through a lot of change, it is easy to be cautious about trying new things. Don't be afraid to take a leap of faith. Innovation often comes from reacting to unexpected situations and throwing out the original plan.
In 2020, our team at Minnesota Ice embraced a significant project: crafting thousands of ice blocks for a local ice maze. This endeavor supported a local nonprofit. The event was a hit, our contribution kept our production team engaged, and it offered much-needed vibrancy and support to the community.
While creating ice for that maze, we realized there was an opportunity too good to pass up. We started putting on our own ice maze, and it's grown into a large winter festival with ice bars, an ice slide, ice carving competitions, and an ice carving wall. It's been so successful that we're looking to pivot again and launch the festival in other cities across the U.S. and, one day, globally.
In the pioneering spirit of the Bold North, envisioning such a grand winter festival from our early days in a garage might have seemed like a stretch. But at Minnesota Ice, we see the extraordinary in the everyday. Ice, in its mesmerizing versatility--flowing as a liquid, resilient as a solid--has inspired us to transform not just water into art but also our business into a phenomenon.
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7 Lessons Learned Pivoting in Times of Change
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22.01.2024
7 Successful Founders Share Their Favorite Leadership Advice
Prices for Weight-Loss Drugs Like Ozempic Are Skyrocketing. That's Bad News for Employers
New Adobe Report: Consumer Retail Spending Increased in 2023, but Is Projected to Decrease in 2024
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What's Driving Entrepreneurs This Presidential Election
In my college days, often more captivated by entrepreneurial ventures than textbooks, I started a project with a friend that would eventually grow into Minnesota Ice as we know it today. We've had to pivot on the fly to make it work, just as many others have in the last few years. Sometimes it's unconventional, but finding new opportunities to innovate, reacting to change quickly, planning, and being ready to change those plans will help your business survive and thrive in uncertain times. Here are seven lessons I took from pivoting during the pandemic.
The pandemic presented unparalleled challenges, where our usual ice-focused operations were suddenly infeasible, yet the imperative to keep our business afloat and our employees........
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