You can check out my latest blog post below, or find it on my website: In Disruption There Is Opportunity​

The Word is… Opportunity

The word of the week is Opportunity.

Mark my words, my fellow small business owners, we are in the land of opportunity right now. It may not feel like it. Every industry seems to be getting turned upside down by something – new technology, new competitors, new customer expectations – and it’s enough to make us question our plans, if not our sanity.

But for us, the small businesses, this is our chance to embrace change, to pivot, to future proof our business, to plan for a future where we grow more than we have in the past.

This is where David can beat Goliath, where the little fish finally swims in the big pond, where the small but mighty shine.

This is the moment when our little speed boat can turn on a dime, while the giant ships are just beginning to alter their course.

Don’t miss your chance by continuing on a straight-line path, hoping that things will go back to “normal” any day now.

Enough idioms for you yet? Let’s get to the meat of things (Ha! One more -- couldn’t help myself).

In Disruption, There Is Opportunity

Members of my peer groups know that I love to say, “In disruption, there is opportunity.” So when issues come up that they have no control over – tariffs, rising interest rates, geopolitical tension, AI bots – I suggest that they look for the opportunity. Some small businesses will just continue on as usual. The ones that want to grow will see the opportunity in the disruption.

What does it mean to see the opportunity in the disruption? And how do you go about doing that? Some of it comes down to looking for the changes – the signals of change. And some of it comes down to talking – to customers, to suppliers – paying attention to what’s going on around you and finding new ways to adapt to the issues coming up.

One key component to all of this is having the bandwidth – in other words, the time and the energy - to think about what’s going on, to pay attention to what’s happening around you, and to take the time to speak with customers, employees, vendors and other business owners. To hear the stories, and to think about how you might address the disruption and make changes that benefit your stakeholders.

Let’s break that down.

First, Name the Disruptors

Some disruptors are loud and obvious. Others sneak up on you. Take a few minutes and ask yourself which of these are showing up in your world:

• A new kind of competitor (or an old competitor doing something new)
• New technology, AI in particular, changing how work gets done and how customers find and compare you
• Customers who buy differently or expect more, faster (Thanks, Amazon!)
• Cost or supply shocks hitting your suppliers, or your pricing
• Employees with different expectations about where, when and how they work (Gen Z?)
• Rules, rates or taxes that change the math on your business

Notice that most of these have nothing to do with anything you did wrong. Every industry is going through some kind of change that forces business owners to rethink their business model. The question isn’t whether you’ll be disrupted. It’s whether you’ll notice early enough to do something about it.

And if it feels like there’s more of this than usual, you’re right. The NFIB’s Uncertainty Index for small businesses sat at 89 in August, well above its historical average of 68.

Now let’s get personal. How would you answer these two questions about your business?

1. What has changed for your business, your suppliers, and your customers in the past year?
2. What do you think will stay changed? What will revert back?

Then, Watch for the Signals

Signals of change are the early hints that something is shifting, before it shows up in your revenue. Sometimes they’re small. A customer asks for something you don’t offer. A competitor you’ve never heard of shows up in a bid. A vendor quietly changes their terms.

Sometimes they’re in the data. Here’s one: the U.S. Census Bureau found that between December 2025 and May 2026, AI use increased among firms with at least 20 employees but didn’t change significantly among firms with fewer than 20 employees. Translation: the big ships are picking up speed on AI while many small boats are still at the dock. If you’re a small boat, that’s a signal – and whether it turns into an opportunity or a threat depends on what you do next.

Next, Start Talking

Data only gets you so far. Some of the best signals come from conversations, so get curious. Try a few of these:

• Customers: What’s getting harder for you right now? Is there anything you wish we would do differently?

• Suppliers and vendors: What are you seeing across your other customers? What’s changing on your end?

• Employees: What’s frustrating you? What are you hearing from customers that I’m not?

• Other business owners: What are you trying? What’s flopping?

The goal isn’t to run a formal survey. It’s to hear the stories – and then think about how you might address the disruption in a way that benefits your customers, your employees and your suppliers.

And Protect Your Bandwidth

Here’s the challenge: none of this happens if you’re running flat out. When every day is a series of fires to put out, you won’t hear the signals, let alone act on them. Time and energy are the difference between owners who see the opportunity and owners who just react.

My suggestion? Block off time on your calendar every week, away from daily distractions, just to think and to talk to people. Treat it like a client meeting you can’t reschedule. Work on getting into the habit of setting aside this time – to listen and look for signals of change, reflect on what they mean, and consider ways to address them.

What Seeing the Opportunity Looks Like

The Local Store, a small retail store focusing on products made locally in my community of Eau Claire, WI, began offering Care Packages by category (games, food, self-care) for locals to order for friends and family. By selling by category and price rather than specific items, they were able to select items for each box based on their current inventory to keep selling and not be as dependent on high-demand, low-supply items.

See the pattern? They ran into a problem they couldn’t control – they couldn’t count on getting the hot items – and changed their model so it stopped mattering. Sell the outcome, not the SKU.

Four Peas, a Marketing Consulting firm here in Eau Claire recognized how burnt out we all are by so much digital marketing content and AI slop. So they moved in another direction, preparing a high-quality print journal geared specifically toward small business customers in need of some quiet reflection time.

What a great way to stand out as a digital marketer – with a print journal that businesses will hold onto for months!

So, Where is the Opportunity again?

When many businesses are focused on survival mode, it can be hard for us to see a path forward beyond the next day, the next month, the next quarter. However, this is precisely the time to focus your efforts on the future. Where there is disruption there is opportunity.

Consider that when things are going great, businesses are reluctant to make changes. Why change what’s working?

But if things are still in a state of flux, then those same businesses might be more open to change -- and your business could be the change they are looking for.

So, start with your existing customers – is there an opportunity to sell more or different products or services to them? Are you meeting your customers’ needs so they don’t decide to try someone new in your place? Is there an opportunity to add new customers who are currently using a competitor of yours or solving the problem you address in a different way?

Also consider your sales and marketing paths – perhaps webinars, short videos or a podcast will reach people your usual trade shows don’t. Or maybe you should offer products or services online that normally are only offered in person. Be open to new customer types, modified products or services, and new tools for reaching out, AI tools included.

What opportunities are you finding amongst all of the disruption? Are you ready to grow your business? Try this week: name your top three disruptors, put your thinking time on the calendar, and have one real conversation with a customer, supplier or fellow owner.

And if you’re struggling to find opportunities in the disruption, consider the following quote from Clayton Christensen, the authority on disruptive innovation: