The past week and a half have been nuts. I am sure many of you feel the same way. Most mornings I wake up feeling like I’m in the twilight zone, and unfortunately, I don’t anticipate that going away anytime soon.
That being said, there are still so many things that you can be doing to flip that state when your world around you is chaos.
I’m sure you have all seen the plethora of suggestions about how to get through this “social distancing” with your kids home from school, no food in the grocery stores, and maybe even how to manage your day when working from home.
I want to talk about something that is a little bit different though. How do you manage your BUSINESS with the craziness? This is JUST as important as managing your household. If you are like me, then you rely on your business income. This isn’t just a side hustle for me – we pay our rent with my income, so we kinda need it. 😉
Celebrate your wins
First and foremost, you gotta be celebrating the small things. There are some things, I promise!
In the last few days, this has been a little bit harder for me – as I’m sure it has been for most of you. And honestly, I have been going from stressed to angry to feeling okay then back to stress.
So celebrating my wins has been more of an hour by hour thing, not a day by day. 😉
For example this morning, I was celebrating that I happened to be driving by the grocery store as the truck was getting there, so I was able to get the few groceries that I needed without the long lines or fighting AND I made it home for a 9:45am conference call with 1 minute to spare. #TotalWin
I had a client that was feeling stressed today and called me to chat about it. I was able to help talk her off a ledge and put a little spring in her step. To me, having a client and friend call me for support was a #TotalWin.
So take time right now to celebrate your win for this morning. And please share so I can celebrate with you!
And if you want to take it a little bit further, write those wins down, so you can reflect back on them later. You’ll be glad you did.
Connect
I mentioned a few weeks ago that Michael Lieberman made a case in his book Social that our NEED TO CONNECT is as fundamental as our need for food and water. I 100% believe that.
Yosef Kanefsky said recently, “The very last thing we need right now is a MINDSET of mutual distancing. We actually need to be thinking in the exact opposite way.”
So are you taking time every single day to connect with people?
And not just your neighbors and friends (although you should check in on them too!), but are you checking in with your clients?
Your team?
Your ideal clients?
Your Power Partners?
Especially as we shift to even more of an online space, the need to connect will be greater. And thank goodness we have the technology, right??
So schedule a few zoom coffee dates. Comment positively on social media posts. Share a blog that you wrote recently with a friend.
And more than that, take time to serve your clients and audience. This is the time to communicate with them more than ever before.
If you are like me, then you have been constantly glued to social media and the news. It’s been a little exhausting and I’m going to the first to raise my hand and say that I have a problem. (That’s the first step in AA, right!)
But I have realized, that I need to knock that crap off and instead spend the time educating my audience. I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for my message to be seen and heard. I am over all of the negativity and ready to educate my audience, share my genius in a bigger way.
Are you with me?
Will you commit to serving your clients and audience in a bigger way by communicating and connecting more than ever?
Prepare/Follow your Strategy
Here’s the part where I go into full coaching mode.
I’m sure you have made plans for homeschooling the next few weeks or activities to do if we happen to be stuck inside for a few weeks, but what plans have you made for your business?
In a perfect world, you would already have your content laid out for the next few weeks, it would run on autopilot and there would be very little to worry about. But most people aren’t there yet. (And that’s okay!)
But that doesn’t mean now is the time to let it slide.
Like I mentioned before, people need connection. They need you. They are seeking something greater than COVID19 news, so educate them. Take time this week to prepare a couple of blog ideas and social media posts. Go live on your page with a few ideas for them to thrive right now.
Keep consistent. Keep sharing. Keep educating your audience.
Utilize the team that you have created or hired to help you execute.
Use your resources and leverage skills outside of yours. There are people out in the world that specialize in content strategy (like me!)
Or maybe you need help with email marketing so you can nurture your audience during this fragile time. I have someone I can connect you with!
Or maybe you don’t know who your ideal client is and you are struggling to figure that out. I have someone I can connect you with there too.
Figure out what you are lacking and what YOU need and let’s get it done!
I promise, having a strategy will lead to growing your business faster and thriving in these turbulent times.
I am still hosting my Quarterly Content Call. The focus of the call will be clarity for what you should be doing with your content in Q2 – especially with this shift in the market.
Get creative
You may be wondering how you can bring in some additional income in the next few weeks. Create a new product. Modify your existing products. Expand your content marketing approach and omnipresence so you are reaching a bigger audience.
I have a client that teaches classes at a gym. Well now that the gyms are closing, she has so many clients that still want to work out. So she is hosting virtual workout classes. I think it’s brilliant! She got creative and found a way to serve her audience during their time of need.
I have another client that feels like her audience needs a daily boost of happiness. So we are helping her create some daily lunchtime videos that are intended to give people something to focus on besides the news. She is finding a way to connect with her people and educate them, all while bringing more happiness into the world.
Finding new ways to do things is one of my favorite things to do, so if you need help brainstorming, reach out. I would love to help.
And don’t forget that being creative absolutely applies to your content. If you have been bored writing a blog or doing Facebook Live the last few months, then switch it up! Try something new. Do a podcast, step up your email marketing game, create a course, order new swag for your clients. Those are all forms of content.
Friends, things may be crazy on the outside, but as entrepreneurs, we are tough cookies. We know how to be fluid and go with the flow. We know how to adjust in times of need. But we also know how to rise together and create positivity in the world.
So while we may be trying to figure out how to make this new normal work for the next few weeks, let’s not forget that we have dreams and we have businesses that we love that need love and attention too.