Changing Times
Posted On: 2011-01-17
Way back in 1964 when I was just a toddler Bob Dylan wrote his very memorable piece "The Times They Are a-Changin" and it became an anthem for a generation of American kids. Since then it has been recorded by just about everyone who even pretends to be a folk singer and it's a song that just about everyone knows.
Lots of people sing it and I bet you even know some of the words but how many of us have ever bothered to listen closely to what Dylan wanted us to hear. Back then the times really were changing and people were beginning to want to have more control over their lives and to have more say in how their country was governed.
Perhaps back then people ... and even Dylan himself ... may have thought that his song was as song for those times. Perhaps they thought that they were living in a time of change that would last a relatively short time then after some upheaval everything would settle down and life would become comfortable again.
Maybe that's what people hoped for but that's not what they got. Since that generation sang that song the times have never stopped changing. Change is all around us ... it's happening as I write this and it's happening even as you read this and it doesn't matter whether you're ready for it or not ... it just keeps on coming.
At first all that change probably seemed for the better and people were certainly better off. While the America of Smallville was passing away better times were taking their places ... and not just in America. Everywhere life was becoming easier ... maybe more complicated but certainly easier. People didn't have to work as hard ... they had more leisure ... more things to spend their income on and more income to spend.
It was change and it was good and things have gone on changing even though there were times when it seemed as though we had settled back into a comfortable life where things stayed the same. Sometimes it may have seemd that a new Smallville had emerged ... a place where everything around the town changed but life inside the town went on in comfort.
And for adult webmasters everything seemed good too. Sure there were times when the Government would hassle us but those times passed. Sure there were advances in technology that made our work more challenging and more interesting. Maybe money got a little tighter when the global financial crisis hit but hey ... that would pass too.
Well if you've been lulled into a Smallville sense of security and you believe that even though things are changing life will still go on being comfortable then maybe it's time to stop and take a good look around you. Maybe it's time to accept that the times are still changing and those changes could be about to roll right over the top of you.
Have you ever stopped to think about who your customers really are? In the good times all we have ever thought of them as are numbers ... hits on our counters ... traffic that ebbs and flows ... numbers, hits, traffic that sometimes turn into customers but more often than not just move on to some other adult site. But have you stopped to think seriously about those people who buy what you're selling and ultimately put money in your pocket?
It might pay to start doing that because as the times go on changing those changes could be beginning to impact on the people you sell to. So where do the people who buy what you're selling fit in the general scheme of things? Are the people who put money into your pocket come from the upper class? Do they come from the middle class? Do they come from the working class?
It's important to know because the times are changing. The global financial crisis and the economic recession in the United States has taken a huge bite out of one of those economic classes and some economists suggest that things are a lot worse than you might have noticed. It seems that if the experts are right then the middle class is disappearing fast and the United States may never have a Smallville again ... at least not in our lifetime.
Instead of the three-class system that we have grown up with and that has existed for a hundred years or more the United States is going back to a two-class system and that will have an impact on your bottom line.
It certainly doesn't mean that you should run around screaming that the sky is falling ... or that you should gather up vast supplies of food and head for the hills. But it does mean that you should at least be reviewing your business plan and checking to see where your business is focused. It also means that if you were comfortable in your version of Smallville then it's likely that you're in for a challenging period but it's not one that you can't cope with.
Accept that the times really are changing and be prepared to change with those times and you will survive and grow.