A guide to understanding and hopefully surviving when you’re industry is disrupted.

Some of these ideas came up over Thanksgiving when I was talking to my Father in-law about his optometry business competing with online retailers.

In his case, his “extendable core” is the actual business of optometry. However, he nearly half his revenue comes from retail (frames, lens, etc). The question is, how does an independent optometrist compete with online retailers?

Accepting the existence of a new competitive paradigm is never easy. It often forces us to acknowledge an inevitable loss of business. It may require us to develop disruptions that cannibalize our existing businesses. Failing to come to terms with these realities does us no service.