Keep calm - tips for small businesses during COVID-19

If there’s one thing I know for sure it’s that being in small business brings up all your shit and therefore small business owners and entrepreneurs are some of the most resilient, optimistic people I know. Somehow week in week out they find a way to make payroll, create new innovations, and do good in the community.

Which is why support is everything right now.

If you are a small or micro business owner or entrepreneur and need help, ask for it, now is not a time to be too proud.

Now is also the perfect time to rethink your business and delivery model and pivot where ever you can to online delivery. Review what you've sold in the past year that and consider how you can reintroduce, upsell or add value to that for your existing or new clients.

Sit down with your team and post it notes and do a brainstorm of your business strategy for the coming six months, review your existing products and services and ask yourself how else could this be delivered in this new world? What else can I do to surprise and delight customers?

Importantly you shouldn't shy away from the facts nor stick your head in the sans. Really sit and ask yourself - what's my worst case scenario and my best case scenario right now? What cost saving measures can I employ in the short term to weather this out?

If you like to look on the brighter side it's also a good time while things are quieter to revisit your longer term business vision. Perhaps take some time to review the UN Sustainable Development Goals and and spend time writing out how your business can contribute to a bigger purpose. On a recent entrepreneur program in Bali I sat down and created a new 10 year vision and re-reviewed the global goals to ensure I was still aligned. My business is build around #11 - Sustainable cities and communities and it was awesome to embed that into my new 10 year vision as well.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals

The next few weeks and months are going to be tougher than normal for everyone, and especially for you as a business owner. It’s more important right now than ever to maintain your calm, to build resilience and also to be flexible and creative in the way you approach everything you do.

This is the time for you to get clarity on what you can and can't control, to be in control of your emotions and to focus on what can be achieved. It’s a time for developing backup plans, putting family first, eating healthy, plant powered food, asking for extended terms with banks and lenders, maintaining your connection with current clients (be sure to be a hug and hand shake free zone though) and continuing to stay healthy and stay physical.

Important to remember at this time is that

Panic and fear are not good friends when making smart choices!

While it may feel like the world around us is going slightly mad (which may be a fact) this doesn't mean as the captain of your ship that you should leap to any hasty choices. As Zhen Goh from Cognitive-Edge suggests,

“In complexity, we have to avoid premature convergence and also refuse the temptation of overly simplistic categories or explanations. Contradictions and paradoxes are part and parcel of working in complex adaptive environments.”

And I hear you say, but I do need to make some difficult and important decisions...

Perhaps you have an event you may need to cancel, an employee you may need to let go, expenses you can no longer afford, travel plans you have to cancel, children that are now home from school and a whole new product line you now cannot get into the country. These are just some of the tough calls you may now be facing.

Remember those that survive this will make a choice, be flexible, pivot and reset. It may be time to hire a business coach to help you navigate the troubled waters (contact me if you do!) Whatever you do know this - sitting still, remaining frozen, whingeing, crying and choosing to not choose is still a choice you are making.

These are turbulent times and you are not alone. We are all in this together and we will create new opportunities, business models and connections if we get real, practical and sensible about it.

This is a time to curb any stress and anxiety, whether you meditate, use essential oils or practice deep breathing, you want to be doing all you can to not let fear and the threat to your livelihood take over. I appreciate this can be particularly challenging when you are the main breadwinner and when the buck stops with you however stress can really impact us physically and mentally and this can spell disaster as it can lower immunity making our bodies more susceptible to viruses such as Corona.

This is a time for us all to work together, to support, to give a shout out and to maintain as much as possible, our support for each other's small business. Buy local, give credit, be a good human. This too shall pass.

Oh and if you are in the toilet paper business let us know, we may all want to invest in your business for the time being - make hay will the sun shines friend!