It’s easy to feel scared at times like these.
When the vast majority of your contracts have been put on hold indefinitely.
When your clients stop sending you work because they simply don’t have it.
When your customers stop buying your products because they’re scared that they’re shuffling ever closer to debt and bankruptcy.
When you’re not even allowed to do your regular work because we need to stay at home, maintain self-quarantine and practice self-distancing.
I’ve felt that dull weight of worry in the pit of my stomach as client after client sends me an apologetic email saying the same thing;
“Sorry, but we just don’t have the work any more.”
There are no two ways about it.
It’s scary.
That’s why, instead of sharing the usual tips on how you can improve your content marketing and write some kickass content, I thought I’d do something different.
You see, no matter how bad things feel right now, there IS light at the end of the tunnel.
Keep the faith (in both the world and your own talents) and you will ride out this coronavirus storm and perhaps even discover a brand new direction for your business and your life.
Keep moving forward
This current period of uncertainty is temporary. It won’t last forever.
Although you don’t know exactly what direction the economy is moving in or even where your industry will be one year from now, it’s important to keep pushing forward towards your goals.
If the worst should happen and we emerge from this madness to a world we barely recognise, you will have gained a vast amount of experience, a library of content and a huge amount of confidence from doing this.
Even if you have to pivot, you’ll have built strong foundations that will allow you to continue growing.
And if the best scenario happens, you’ll show the world that you’re not a quitter 🙂
So keep creating awesome content for your website. Keep connecting with your audience. Develop that online course or outline that autoresponder series that you’ve had on the backburner for ages! Now’s the time!
Pivot!
Now is the perfect time to think about whether you could switch your business to suit the modern coronavirus economy. If you choose carefully, adapting in this way could make the difference between your business sinking or swimming.
It’s what clever entrepreneurs like you and I do. And it works!
Take one of my clients for example. She’s been working as a fitness teacher for several years now and working hard to attract more women to join her classes.
When the lockdown happened, she suddenly found herself stuck at home and unable to teach the students she loved.
Honestly, she was devastated.
In fact, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I told you how stressed and overwhelmed that left her feeling. Like the rest of us, she had bills to pay but there was no way she would even consider going back to her corporate career.
Know what she did?
You guessed right! She pivoted.
She took her existing business and made the right tweaks so she could continue to work doing what she loved despite being at home. By putting hard work into developing her online platform and offering online classes via Zoom, she’s started making more money than ever. I’m so proud of her.
How could you do this with your own business?
Reach out to your community
Lockdown and social distancing can feel incredibly lonely, especially if you usually have plenty of students, clients and customers to keep you busy. And yes, even if you have your family knocking around at home with you.
But the thing is, we’re all feeling like this.
We’ve all been ripped away from our lives and our usual routine. We’re all trying to make sense of everything that is happening with COVID-19. We’re all trying hard to find a new ‘normal’ as best we can navigate this new territory.
So is the perfect time to keep your channels of communication open, be authentic when you communicate with them (admit it when you’re struggling!) and ask them how you can best serve them.
Offer support to your audience and be open to receiving their feedback too.
You’ll be building vital trust and connection with your audience and also allowing yourself to discover new opportunities that you might never have considered.
Perhaps your followers or customers would LOVE you to create a new service or product that would make a huge difference to their lives and will give that seed of inspiration to you if you are receptive.
Start a brand new business
Despite everything I’ve said above, you might find yourself in a situation when you can’t create new products or services for your clients.
Or you can’t realistically take your business online and work remotely. Things like working as a driving instructor, dentist or hairdressers are the ones that immediately spring to mind.
If you find yourself in this situation, don’t panic! Instead, ask yourself if you could start a brand new business instead.
When the government, first announced the coronavirus lockdown, I was inundated with requests to do more virtual assistant work.
(I have years of digital experience, I’m super organised and I’ve helped out several clients with this in the past).
It seemed like the market was absolutely begging for this service for a while. Although I did consider whether to start a whole new virtual assistant business, I decided to keep focusing my efforts on my true love- writing!
Could you develop a new business? What ideas do you have when it comes to earning money online?
Summary
Despite how bleak the future might feel right now, it’s important to stay positive and proactive. By all means, cry your eyes out about how **** the whole thing is and the stress you’re under right now.
But wipe those tears, get off your butt and start moving forward with your business. Your future self will thank you. Trust me.
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