Hello! It feels like an age since I found time to sit and type a blog post for you. I will be honest I have struggled with what to say and how to say it.
It felt very strange to write about business development during the Coronavirus pandemic, when most people I know have been struggling. It felt insensitive almost. So, I stopped writing.
The truth be told, there have been some changes here at My Indie Life Blog HQ too and I need to tell you about them, particularly as you arrive at this blog post being very aware that the look and copy of my website has changed… but we will get to that later.
In today’s blog post I want to talk you about the challenge of change, or the feeling of how change might be perceived, or accepted… more than that I want to explore three different scenarios and show you how they might help you tackle change in these uncertain times.
Why is change so challenging?
As creatures of habit, people rarely embrace change easily, particularly when it is forced upon them. We can see that in the world around us and how some countries have dealt with the pandemic more quickly than others and where citizens have accepted, or not, the lockdowns that have been necessary. My god, we have even seen the denial of the pandemic’s existence!
We have also seen how dealing with lockdown has affected our individual physical, mental and financial wellbeing, with depression and anxiety reports spiking.
Change is uncertain and uncertainty is scary.
The same feeling is true of change at work, whether that is self-employment, or gainful employment with a separate company. We can feel change is a challenge to deal with, even on the most unconscious of levels. We can find ourselves disagreeing with change, for example new team logistics, because it’s a break in our understood routines, or struggling to realise bigger picture needs for change, without a good guide from our superiors… and if we are self-employed we struggle with what our clients might think, or if we will lose custom through change.
Change is uncertainty, change is a best guess not a guarantee.
Stories of Extension, Refocus and Pivot
Of course like many of you I have been battling with change on a number of fronts since lockdown started, but what has been interesting is my quick acceptance that things need to change… my routines, my daily priorities and yes, of course my business. And in the time I have had to myself, I have seen fellow small business owners make changes too. I wanted to spend some time to talk through how I see some of those people making change in their business adapt.
The Story of Extension
There is a local bakery I have been shopping with (irregularly) for… well, maybe as long as we have been in Devon… about eleven years. Since lockdown started, as you may know flour has been one of those rare commodities that we all seem to suddenly need. My mother has been a habitual baker for years and as I have been shopping for her, flour has been a struggle to find… at least until I found that my local bakery had stock… and fresh yeast too!
It’s a funny thing when you have to queue for something, you find yourself really looking at what’s on offer and as I awaited my turn, I realised how much this little bakery had grown. They offered so much more than bread now… they are also a zero waste shop offering grains, pulses and spice and at the back it looked like there were plenty of other things that I usually struggle to buy in the big supermarket I visit weekly.
I got to the counter and expressed my awe at the abundant offer, as I made my order. Service came with a smile and I was told I could now order through Facebook and in some cases have orders delivered to my door. They were even investing in a POS system so people could now pay with card.
Wow, they had been making some big changes to their small business.
I asked how business was.
With a tired, ear to ear grin the owner said, ‘We are adapting and extending to see how we can best serve our customers, when they need us most… and we are thrilled to say we have been fortunate enough to triple our earnings!’
My heart melted a little… they are totally embracing change. They are adapting.
And they are not the only ones. Some of my clients are extending to create digital versions of their products or in person services and it is having a big impact on their ability to maintain and grow even during what feels like a gut-wrenching time of uncertainty.
The Story of Refocus
This is my story… refocus.
When the lockdown hit, like many, I had a very nail-biting 48 hours. In fact, I lost 95% of my clients in less than two days, because they had been hit at their end. I knew that this was something that I could not survive as a business, because there was no clear way to recoup that loss once lockdown was over.
I felt numb with shock, as I tried to adjust. My business taking a back seat as I concentrated on family and health. But, like many self-employed people I knew I needed to keep paying the bills and the Government were not as quick to make offers of help.
Three years of, extremely hard work just disappeared.
I remember coming across a local friendly face, as I took my early morning exercise walk with the dog one day… we’ve always said ‘hello’. He runs a Kayak company. They build by hand on site. As we talked, we just both kept shrugging our shoulders and saying, ‘but what can you do?’
There was some solace in feeling some sense of connection, even if slightly morbid and as I walked home, I could not help feeling like I should be trying something.
Anything.
I usually go through my business data and analytics once a quarter, but I found myself pouring over them when I got home that morning. What would they tell me? Was the answer in there? And to my surprise it was, and it wasn’t 100% what I expected it to be.
Since the start of 2020, I have noticed several emails, or blog comments about marketing, from either existing, or potential clients and small business owners. Some of which were from companies outside of my niche, of craft businesses. How could they use my marketing methods to create more online buzz? I looked at my search results and most of the content that was being sought was related to marketing tutorials, or advice.
At the same time in my increased networking efforts (which is my word for the year, little did I know we’d be social distancing!), I saw a number of queries from small business owners who were looking for someone to actually create and deliver their marketing campaigns.
Whilst pondering this new realisation, I called a contact to see if I could get any freelance work, something which I did for a bit when I started My Indie Life Blog, so that I didn’t eat into my personal savings whilst building a new business. Something I had not done for a while. To my amazement there was something for me, a client who needed help with their Mailchimp account and email marketing campaigns.
Kismet is a weird state to emotionally process.
In one week I had lost 95% of clients from my craft business coaching services and become fully booked with new marketing clients… all small businesses and all valuing the same methods I already taught, they just needed the doing.
So here I am, embracing the change my action has given me, hence the change of website and service offer.
[I need to put in an aside here - If you are a craft business and you are thinking, ‘well I don’t see how she helps me anymore?’ Please stick around, because this blog is going to become a way to explore the marketing you need to put in place to create more online awareness and sales leads for your business. Because the foundations to marketing are the same for any business, whether you are a maker working from home, a small business (maybe with staff), a medium business, or a giant of industry, and regardless of niche. This blog is going to be a way for you to understand what you need to put into place if you are DIYing your own marketing, because you cannot afford my services. So, I am still here to serve you, but in a more focused way.]
The story of Pivot
It is a brave soul that pivots their business entirely, but occasionally needs must.
I think sometimes we are prone to holding onto something that is not working or needs to change because we are afraid to do something new, or what people might think of what we feel is a failure. The truth be told the reality is businesses evolve, just like customers do and sometimes that means just as one or the other evolves there becomes an end of cycle moment where the two paths divide. This divide happens for many reasons and sometimes as a sole trader it is for purely personal reasons that we need to change.
I remember once having a conversation with a fellow stall holder about this at a yarn show and she said something to the effect that she believes every business has a season. As the season draws to the end you have to recognise it and move on… and that is ok. We were talking about the lack of familiar faces and I think she was right then and now during Covid-19 I think she is spot on… sometimes you need to close the doors on something, to be able to fully open yourself to something new.
That’s not easy, but sometimes it is necessary.
Why is all of this so important for you to hear today?
Hey, look. We are all going through our own stuff right now and learning to adapt to what’s happening is an important step to getting through it. And I’m fully aware that I am talking business, which takes a noticeable back seat to health. But I wanted to say it anyway, because at some point (and like me you might already be there) you are going to have to announce your new way forward, especially if you own a small business.
I want to let you know that if you have really thought it through, done your research and made your best estimate, then you need to take action.
Be brave.
Be safe.
Sara x
