In 2025, business owners faced much more than offering a good product or good service – they had to be on board with constant adaptation. 

With pressure from social media and new technologies, business owners give a key piece of advice to anyone starting a new business in 2026—flexibility is crucial not only for success, but for survival. 

For many businesses, interest rates, cost of living and consumer affordability are daily challenges. 

“The pressure comes from our competition for pricing,” said Doug McIalwain, owner of Precision Door and Millwork, a company based out of Spokane Washington. 

McIalwain resides in Arizona. 

Since the business operates within the housing industry, threats of a recession have loomed for more than a year.

“We have to make all the adjustments that we can to try and make a profit every month,” McIalwain said. 

Other companies struggle to find people to hire and then to be able to hold onto those employees. 

Personnel have to be flexible in order to keep the business running. 

McIalwain told Northeast Valley News it’s about avoiding layoffs and making sure there’s enough people working to keep the business steady. 

Technology is another story. 

Now it’s all about AI and what it means for businesses everywhere. 

And if your business is the business of helping people get jobs—it’s even more challenging. 

Phil Greenwood, the owner of Careerlink, a job search business based out of Omaha Nebraska tells Northeast Valley News, “AI has definitely thrown a shift in our business.” 

Online businesses adjust to new changes every day, but AI has created a whole new level of change. 

“Adapting to that [AI] and understanding how people interact with knowledge and information now is just different,” Greenwood said. 

Despite the changes, Greenwood says there is room to grow and has incorporated AI into their job search business. 

“We use AI a bunch, we built it all into Careerlink, for the employers, the consumers, and the job seekers.” 

Still, he’s aware with the unknown of AI, comes uncertainty all along the way. 

No one can guess the next big change, the smaller ones are managed, and the algorithm will grow. Nowadays, stability is a whole new ball game. With interest rates and inflation, and AI. 

“It’s all over the place,” Greenwood said. 

In the new year, running a business will be much more complex. 

There’s simply no way to always be in control—but business owners can stay up on the latest, respond appropriately and adapt to new changes in real time if they’re ready.

For those who are willing to evolve, opportunity will arise.