We are experiencing something unprecedented in our lives with this pandemic, and no one has been unaffected. As small business owners and entrepreneurs, it can be a time of struggle. Some may be worried about where they will get their next paying client, and others may just be worried about laying off staff and what to do about rent.
Here are some things you can do right now to react and protect your business.
Keep Building Your Brand Visibility
Make sure that your audience knows you are still there for them. Now it is so important to support your community. There are many ways to help.
Offer a free mini session, an intro call, or a free assessment to offer your followers. Provide someone with some help without selling them anything. Sometimes these free offerings introduce you to people who will eventually purchase from you. It may be sooner than you think.
Put together an online event to teach something you can share. Or join forces with some other entrepreneurs that have complementary services and do an online summit. Use free resources like Facebook or Instagram Live to deliver your events. For a small investment, you can use tools like Zoom and have up to 100 participants for less than $20 per month. Or try webinar software such as Crowdcast or Easy Webinar, which will send reminder emails and includes web pages for sign-ups.
Invest time to create content such as blogs and videos. Keep people engaged and seeing you show up. Use some great photography to use with your content. There are some free image resources where you can access beautiful photos that don’t look like staged adverts or cheesy marketing shots. Check out unsplash.com or pixabay.com.
If you don’t have an audience, share an industry influencer’s audience. Join Facebook groups who have a similar audience. Answer questions, and make some connections. Send direct messages on Instagram to connect with like-minded people.
It’s OK to Sell Your Services and Products
We’re small business owners, and we still need to make a living. Don’t feel ashamed to be offering your services for sale.
You may have to get resourceful and find a different type of offer to stimulate sales. If, for example, you are a photographer, this is an excellent time to offer a special on additional prints or photobooks for past clients. A hair or nail salon could be selling gift cards for a special package that can be used when we are free to open stores again. Encourage people to support their local small businesses and help keep their favourite stores and services. You can set up gift card purchases on Squarespace websites that connect with a payment processing service such as Stripe or Paypal. These make it easy for you to accept credit cards.
How can you do what you do online? If you’re a therapist, you could do your sessions via video call or even phone. Fitness instructors can offer classes online or some personal training sessions via video conference to support their customers.
Is there a lower-priced, entry-level offer of your service you could put together? Help someone learn how to do something themselves, such as put a simple website together or write creative email copy.
Teach someone how to knit. There are plenty of people who need something to do now. Teach a language and practice speaking it with a student. Tutor children, parents want to keep their kids interested and engaged, so they don’t fall behind.
If you offer a special deal or a new product, be sure to create a sense of urgency. Give a limited time for your offer, so people don’t let it linger and let it go on and on before they purchase or worse forget about the offer. Studies show that if you provide a deadline, you will get more purchases than if you leave your offer open and on-going.
Take time to learn and grow
Start by getting into the right mindset.
I follow some great people who help to get me in the right space when I feel like I’m losing control or getting negative. If you struggle to stay positive and keep motivated, I suggest Mel Robbins. She is a no-nonsense gal that wrote the bestseller – The 5 Second Rule, highly motivating with productivity hacks.
Someone new I recently found and started following is David Neagle, coach, speaker, podcaster, and author of The Millions Within. Check out his podcast on managing through the crisis.
Get support, community and business tips in my free Facebook Group, The Employee to Entrepreneur Society.
Cashflow
Use the resources you can get your hands on to manage your money right now.
Take advantage of the government funds that are being made available. See if you qualify. Some governments are providing help to small business owners or solo-practitioners who are out of work. Every country is different but worth checking.
See if you can get a business line of credit. This could help you pay your rent or utilities to keep you going for a short time. It could help you with the mortgage or pay for your business expenses. It could help you to market your business so your clients and customers know you are still available or attract new leads.
Are you going to use this opportunity to serve, build and grow?
We have a responsibility as business owners to do everything we can to survive to help the economy because yes there will be some companies that don’t make it or will have a really hard time and yet for most of us we do have some options to continue on. We may not make as much as we did prior to the crisis or make our money in the same way but there is still a great opportunity for your business to not only survive but thrive. And there are plenty of businesses that are thriving during this time, grocery stores, food delivery services, couriers and take out services.
For most of us (and yes, I realize not everyone) we have online businesses or can do some form of online services or products to make money from selling.
I believe that when we come out of this, there is going to be an influx of people becoming entrepreneurs. For anyone who provides services to help these people, they are going to be extremely valuable and needed.
So there are plenty of opportunities to grow and establish your business now. Now is not the time to curl up and cover your head to hide from the world. It’s time to learn and invest in your business, so you’re ready when we come out on the other side of this.
Keep pushing yourself and challenge your mindset to stay connected, show up, and serve your audience. Make your brand visible and be remembered.
Want support for your business? Get a free brand breakthrough session with me to work on your business, your brand, or your marketing strategy. Free Sessions available until April 15th. Book Now
