Recently someone showed me these photos from 5th Avenue in New York. The left picture is from 1900, the right is from 1913. The difference between the pictures is remarkable. In 13 years, the street scene has changed from walkers and horse carts to a street scene full of cars.

This person pointed out an interesting dilemma: suppose you were a blacksmith in 1908, what choice would you have to make towards the future? The demand for horseshoes declined, but there were not yet enough cars for a profitable tire business. What are you doing then? In retrospect, the answer is simple, but in 1908 it was not easy.

Today, we live in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. This revolution affects the world of professional service providers. We see old patterns and habits becoming less useful and relevant for some time. The world is changing, customer expectations are changing, and information availability differs from 20 years ago.

Is today's world of service providers compared to the changing scenery of New York at the beginning of the last century? It looks like it. New technology makes it possible that we work differently and look for solutions to their issues differently.

Are you, as a professional service provider, the farrier of the 2020s? Yes!

More than just choosing a different profession

Let's go back to the blacksmith's situation in 1908. The doubts about the blacksmiths' future are more than just responding to different customer needs and using new technology. It has personal consequences, too. Farrier is a profession. Suppose you, as a farrier, love to strike the iron when it is hot. What does it mean for you when you stop as a farrier? That change affects your passion and your identity.

Compare this with the current situation for many service professions. Insurance brokers, teachers, accountants, doctors, consultants - in these professions, technological developments are increasingly putting pressure on the profession's added value. How long will your current services remain relevant? And when do you decide to develop a new profession with new services? And what does that decision do to your passion for your work and your self-image?

These are tough questions to answer. The pace at which changes will expose themselves is hard to predict. Technology already enables us to change in many areas. But mentally, we hold on to thinking patterns and logic from 10 or 20 years ago. That makes looking ahead and planning for the next few years difficult. And uncertain.

I work with service professionals who take steps towards the future from a different logic. Like insurance advisors moving into risk management advice and financial planning. Or tax advisers who become life event advisors supported by current technology. They are already opting for different positioning and changing from delivering services to serving their customers meaningfully.

7 actions to grow to great heights!

So how about you? Are you on your way to become the 21st century's blacksmith? Or are you already on your way to develop a new profession?

Change does not happen overnight. It is a journey for which I identified seven actions that will make you move forward:

1. Acknowledge the changes in the world around us

2. Become aware of the coming changes in your current profession

3. Build your challenging vision and plan to achieve that vision

4. Decide to embrace your undiscovered future destination

5. Make a conscious decision to leave your current situation behind

6. Take a step-by-step strategy and learn to discover your new future while shaping it.

7. Practice an explorative mindset.

Exciting? Certainly. Confronting? For sure. Do it? Yes!

Build your idea of ​​the future and let it grow to great heights! Want to know how? Schedule a free consultation.