A stark reality of being a home-working franchisee and business owner is that if you don?t book holidays, you don?t get paid. COVID-19 has starved us of bookings and income, so it has forced us to re-write our strategies for 2020 ? we must stay on our toes during this pandemic.
However, it is not all doom and gloom. Sure, reconciling the fact that there will be little or no income this year is a bitter and frightening pill to swallow, but we need to get over it and look towards making the best of this tough situation.
Small businesses rarely operate at optimum speed. That is to say that there is either too much or too little going on. The reality is that we can go years without changing or refreshing our working practices ? we all know the age old saying, ?If it ain?t broke, don?t fix it.?
We don?t keep in touch with our all-important customers, and we don?t refresh and adapt our medium and long-term business plans. The upside of all this is that it has given us the time and the head-space to give our businesses the full spring clean that they may need.
As much as we would love to, we cannot switch on the magic travel tap ? we need to be patient. However, at the same time we must guard against passivity and laziness. We need to keep busy, and stay sharp so that we are in the best possible position when that tap does eventually turn on.
There is lots of talk of mental health, and rightly so. We need to take breaks to stay fresh. We need to talk to colleagues to keep perspective and to be reassured that we are not going through this alone. We need to update our training and maybe take on a new skill or two, and we certainly need to reach out to customers ? do a few a day ? just to see how they are, and let them know you are OK. There is a lot that we cannot do this year, but at the same time there is also so much more that we can.
Make sure that you seize the opportunities.
