I’d like to be able to predict the future.
Wouldn’t you?
It would make business planning a very different exercise.
Typically, when preparing for the future, a business looks at what it knows – statistics, trends and evidence from the past. Things that are certain.
But the future is uncertain and – as we’ve been told for many years – increasingly volatile (check out this article on VUCA for more on that), so how can the past help us predict the future?
How much can we learn from the present?
As a Virtual PA company, we’re intrinsically involved in a shift in business models.
What was once traditional…

• Brick and mortar premises
• 9-5 hours
• Permanent Staff

Is now fluid and flexible…

• Work anywhere
• Work any time
• Work with extra staff as and when you need them

Businesses are changing. It’s exciting: Mi PA helps empower businesses and individuals to grow and work in non-traditional ways – and reduces barriers to success such as the overheads and risk involved with staff and premises. 
A very interesting part of that is the way businesses and individuals are using our services. They broadly fall into three camps: 

• Those who use Virtual PA’s to free up more time
• Those who use Virtual PA’s to free them of tasks they don’t like to do
• Those who use Virtual PA’s to free them geographically

And it’s that last choice that I think tells us most about the future.
The first two are supported by traditional ways of working. With a Virtual PA service you’re not tied into a contract and the service is scalable, giving you more flexibility. But, you could – albeit with more risk and overheads – get this from a traditional business model (i.e. hiring permanent staff).
But the geographical freedom is perhaps the most telling trend.
Among our clients are individuals who constantly travel. They’re crossing time zones, taking breaks, working different hours that best fit their priorities. They know themselves incredibly well and recognise their strengths. This means they’ll not be ‘traditional’ for the sake of it, but only when it benefits their goals and ambitions.
Geographical freedom is not supported by traditional business models.
With a generation emerging that is hyper self-aware, that has seen older generations suffer a recession at the hand of ‘traditional’ businesses, and that uses technology in ways never previously imagined…do you think they’ll choose restrictive hours? Permanent locations? When the world is offering them a reality that is virtual.
The future of our businesses will not be life as we know it.
What have you noticed about the business world and how it’s changing? How is your business adapting? What will the future of your business will look like?