Covid-19 in Australia, Small Business, Seeing the Upside and Banding Together
Hi, I’m Pete, the founder and managing director of Craft Digital Marketing, based in picturesque Wollongong, NSW. I bought into the idea that coronavirus would blow over quickly and that it wouldn’t be something I’d need to worry about.
It was only about a week ago that I realised there could be a mild chance that this whole ‘thing’ could really, indeed, be a ‘thing’. From that moment, I pulled the team together (despite it seeming silly or unnecessary at the time) and we brainstormed that if this ‘thing’ really eventuated, how would that affect our clients, our prospective clients and each individual industry, in the context of Australian businesses.
We spent many hours over multiple days, bunkered down in our meeting space, surrounded by whiteboards with multiple coloured pen markings, identifying multiple scenarios that would present risk and opportunity to each business and industry.
For the last three days, we’ve been in close communication with our clients, implementing new ways to do business, given the landscape of doing business has shifted, for the most part, in its delivery model.
We’ve been so thankful that we thought to get on the front foot of this and while there’s a lot of uncertainty in the air for everyone, we feel somewhat calm, because we’ve been mentally prepared.
Throughout my life, I’ve come to realise that to every negative, there is quite often a positive, if you just look at it in a different light. It’s now a rule of thumb I have when making decisions. Who knows, it’s probably a reason why I got into marketing in the first place!
When the sky seems high and too far away, we see it as an opportunity to build a rocket ship. When the ground falls out from under us, we learn how to craft a parachute. When a wheel goes from round to square, we learn how to glide. When light becomes dark, we learn to rely more on our sense of feel and smell.
There is no doubt that people are doing it tough in a world that has declared a pandemic of Covid-19. People are falling ill – many have passed. People are fearful – many have lost jobs. There’s no ‘she’ll be right’ attitude that can eliminate these pains or make everything better. There is however, a chance for us all to look toward the upside, no matter how hard the personal situation be. This is a conscious choice to make.
Is there a chance, that in your ecosystem of work, there can be an opportunity for growth? Can you pivot to appeal to a new customer? Can you change the way you deliver your service or product? Can you band together with other suppliers to mitigate risk and grow in your sales network? Can you finally acquire the training you’ve needed for years, but never had the time to put into it – all for the black-and-white benefit of your business? Perhaps there’s a way you can allocate your human resources to supporting those in the community who are being more disadvantaged than others?
At some stage in our professional lives, we have all experienced a sense of risk and danger.
It is a bright and sunny day in Wollongong at the moment. The sky is blue and the water crystal clear, all the way to the horizon. Even the Port Kembla steelworks have a comforting image of progress and work-as-usual about them.
These days are unprecedented, but we are all in this together.
In my humble opinion and experience, if you’ve not already, I urge you to sit back, stare at a blank board or piece of paper, and question yourself – how else can I look at all this negativity? How can I reinvent something, to find even greener pastures? It might not be for today or tomorrow, but it can certainly be for when the smoke has cleared. It is then, that you will see that there was fruit to be found amongst the chaos.
Stay safe and keep well. See you face-to-face soon, but until then, perhaps we’ll just video-call.