We’ve all got a lot better at reacting quickly during the pandemic because, well, we’ve had to. There has been a constant stream of information and instructions for businesses, some of which has directly contradicted everything that came before it, and we’ve all got used to the fact that we’re going to be living with a lot of uncertainty for a while longer.
Business owners have been hit just as hard as anyone else, but we’ve also seen tremendous ingenuity, creativity and fortitude as they’ve found ways to reposition, to save money, protect their employees, and continue to find their customers. Here are just a few effective ways we’ve seen so far.
Think local
While it’s true that people are looking online for solutions, gifts and essentials, it’s also the case that, now more than ever, people are going the extra mile to shop local. We all understand that if we want to keep our favourite local businesses going, we are going to have to put our money where our mouths are to support them.
Whether it’s posting on forums or social media, or putting up advertising in the local area, businesses have been going the extra mile to connect with their local customers and they have been showing them just how valuable their support is. It doesn’t always hurt to show that you need help from your clientele, and right now it makes a huge difference.
Get out of the office
As hard as it may be to believe, if you look back at how you and your employees have coped over the last eight months or so, you might notice some positives to come out of all the hardship. The biggest example of this must be: is an office really a necessary expense?
Teams all over the world have gone through the process of figuring out how to work from home and what works best for them, and because we’ve all been forced to adapt to an office-less lifestyle, a lot of us have discovered that it’s not really necessary.
Those morning meetings are done via zoom, or on a video WhatsApp call as we take a walk around the park with the dog. Those client meetings are easier to organise than ever as we can slot them in at their convenience as opposed to waiting to see if they can hop on a train on a day that works for everyone.
Thanks to channels like Slack, it’s easy to grab hold of someone for a chat, and with tools like Trello, there’s no need for the big whiteboard. Why not commit to saying goodbye to the office for now, and consider some business storage options? SafeStore have two locations in the city to offer you security and flexibility.
Get flexible
In the same way that we’re realising that we don’t all need to be in the same office to get the job done, many businesses are finally embracing that favourite practice of self-employed workers everywhere: flexible office hours.
In the past, rigidly sticking to the same hours has been a necessary evil to make sure that everyone was on the same page, but now that we’re all working from home, business owners have finally been able to embrace the freedom that comes with it.
You can find the pattern that works best for everyone, whether it’s giving your colleagues that bit of extra time to get their kids to school in the morning, or accommodating those who work better into the evening.
With the myriad ways to communicate with your employees and tools to ensure that everyone is getting their work done, there’s really no reason to keep sticking to the 9-5 anymore beyond tradition.
