By Ryan Berry

Every business begins with a problem.

Maybe someone needed a faster way to get a service. Maybe customers were frustrated with poor quality, high prices or a lack of personal attention. Maybe an entrepreneur saw an opportunity to make life easier, save people time or give a community something it did not have before.

At the beginning, the purpose is usually clear.

But over time, many businesses become so focused on day-to-day operations that they stop asking the most important question of all:

Are we still solving the problem we were built to solve?

Consider the story of Netflix.

Netflix did not begin as the streaming giant most people know today. The company originally solved a frustrating problem for movie renters: late fees and inconvenient trips to the video store. Customers could order DVDs online, receive them in the mail and return them when they were finished.

That was a valuable solution at the time. But Netflix did not stop there.

As internet speeds improved and customer behavior changed, the company recognized that people did not simply want DVDs delivered more efficiently. They wanted easier, faster access to entertainment. They wanted to watch what they wanted, when they wanted, without waiting for the mail or driving to a store.

So Netflix pivoted from DVDs to streaming.

Then it faced another challenge. If every entertainment company could offer streaming, what would make Netflix different? The answer was to solve another problem for the same customer: access to original programming. That led the company to invest in original shows, movies and documentaries.

Netflix did not survive by continuing to solve the same problem forever in the same way. It survived because it kept paying attention to the customer’s changing needs.

That lesson applies to every local business.

A company may have started by offering a product or service that was exactly what customers needed 10 years ago. But markets change. Technology changes. Customer expectations change. Competitors change.

The problem may still exist, but the way people expect it to be solved may be completely different.

A local retailer may have started by offering convenience, but customers may now expect online ordering, delivery or curbside pickup.

A marketing company may have started by building websites, but its customers may now need help with content, video, social media, artificial intelligence or a complete strategy.

A restaurant may have built its reputation around dine-in service, but customers may now value catering, takeout, meal plans or private events just as much.

The businesses that remain relevant are not necessarily the ones with the longest history. They are the ones that continue to create value.

That means business owners should regularly ask themselves a few questions:

• What problem did we originally set out to solve?

• Does that problem still matter to our customers?

• Are customers solving that problem differently today?

• Are we solving it better than our competitors?

• What new problems are our customers facing?

• If we started this business today, what would we do differently?

That final question can be difficult, but it is often the most important.

If you were starting from scratch today, would you build the same business? Would you offer the same products? Would you market the same way? Would you deliver the same experience?

If the answer is no, then your business may be ready for reinvention.

Reinvention does not mean throwing away everything you have built. It does not mean chasing every new trend or changing direction every six months. It means being willing to evolve before customers decide they no longer need what you offer.

Sometimes that means solving the original problem better. Sometimes it means solving a new problem for the same customer. And sometimes it means discovering an entirely new opportunity.

Businesses are not meant to remain frozen in time. They are meant to adapt.

The question is not simply, “What have we always done?”

The better question is, “What do our customers need us to become?” ■