It’s no secret that the world is changing rapidly, requiring us to adapt and pivot in ALL areas of life, especially if you’re an entrepreneur or business owner. Virtualizing your business is more important now more than ever before.

What does it take to transition your business and teams to work remotely and efficiently? How do you reframe your offers in a way so you can deliver without coming into direct, physical contact?

RIGHT NOW could be the greatest opportunity you and your business has ever seen. Chaos and confusion can translate into establishing your leadership, creative and innovation skills that your clients and customers will remember you for in the decades to come.

My guest on the Capability Amplifier Podcast this week, Dean Jackson is excited about what we’re seeing right now AND what the future holds for business and marketing.

Dean fell in love with marketing as a young boy when he first realized that selling stuff on commission was way easier than renting himself out by the hour for a regular job. He’s carried his distaste for real work into his adult life and has focused on a lifestyle-centered approach to business with marketing as the ultimate lever to a life of freedom and fun.

Right now he’s excited about what he’s calling “the great migration to the cloud,” and the concept of virtual gatherings. We were forced into it with the COVID situation and this is the byproduct. 

The “silver lining” is we’ve become a virtual gathering-enabled, and accustomed population. 

Not the leading edge businesses, coaches, or online marketers that have traditionally been online and used to meeting like this. Instead you're going to see now, on the backs of the kids having to be equipped for virtual schooling, hundreds of millions of households in the United States are overnight equipped for virtual gathering.

Parents may not have ever been exposed to it but because of the kids every household in America has a computer, a webcam and the ability to access zoom, or Skype or some other online visioning tool. 

You don’t have to be “tech-savvy” these days. Kids are Zoom chatting with their Grandparents. Families and friends are gathering virtually and most are AMAZED at the quality of the video and audio. So much so that they’re realizing that there's an intimacy that you can achieve in the absence of being able to be with someone in person that's almost equal.

Of course there’s a fear that we're going to lose our intimacy without actual, physical contact but the truth is that when you're doing larger virtual meetings where there's 60 people, you can have a direct one on one relationship with everyone simultaneously through chat and so the intimacy in the side conversations increase. 

Another “silver lining” moment that I wasn’t expecting to come from the current situation happened a few weeks ago. A bunch of friends of my wife and I, including JJ Virgin, who usually go to Burning Man every year, decided to do a virtual music night. We had a virtual DJ and all danced together from our ipads and TV’s. It was a total BLAST! Even my 17 year old son was completely captivated and had a great time.

From that dance party, a few fundraisers have developed, supporting several charities, including Native Americans and people working in the bar industry. Nothing I planned but something I'm super proud to be able to do.

Dean and I feel that people are going to find that this is a superior experience without having to deal with things like traveling, especially when the information can be conveyed in a great way. 

What's going to come out of this is the creativity in generating a ton of new experiences, like what a lot musicians are doing right now. They’re not able to go on tour right now so artists like Taylor Swift and ColdPlay are setting up intimate studio environments and doing LIVE STREAM, mini concerts. Now, because it’s such an intimate experience, they’re doing things like telling stories and interacting, seemingly DIRECTLY with the viewer. Pretty. Freaking. COOL.

Once the creatives really get a hold of this new technology… it's gonna change everything.

This was such a topical and important conversation with a really smart, genuine guy. Go here to watch the video version here on YouTube or download and listen to it right now.