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REGAINING YOUR BALANCE
THE VIEW FROM THE 5TH FLOOR

By John Simoudis.

How are you doing this week? Ready to be back in action? Have you learned something new and worthwhile about doing business through a pandemic?

No matter what we do for a living or how we create our lives, our habits have already changed, and new ones are rapidly replacing them. A global behavioral shift will take years to unravel and understand. It is a shift that offers, however, a unique opportunity.

In a very short time, COVID-19 has become the Great Equalizer. Suddenly, as business owners, we’ve realized we are all in the same boat, facing many of the same questions, obstacles, and doubts. What was our competition four weeks ago may not be the competition anymore.

Armed with that realization, we can decide if we’re ready to replace our occasional bouts of nostalgia for something more optimistic. Because luck favors the Bold.
Are you ready to embrace the future? If so, we have some helpful ideas for you to begin writing your new Chapter 1.

A New Creation Story

Traditionally it is quite challenging to craft a narrative of a change of direction, especially when conducting business has a new meaning as it does now. In the past, a company may have had to communicate a radical pivot due to: a vital executive’s departure, a profit shortfall, or worse, a scandal.

In this environment, our new pivot must begin by thinking of novel ways to make our current story relevant by giving it a new meaning. In doing so, we demonstrate that we’re listening to our customers and that we are, above all, sensitive.

Not everyone is getting the importance of that approach, relying instead on absentee messaging. For example, leading beauty and fragrance companies seem to be in the business-as-usual mode, launching, promoting, and avoiding reality. Their followers on social media have not yet penalized this lack of empathy, however, we don’t know its impact on sales.

As companies continue to weather the storm, creative solutions discovered in navigating this crisis can become the new narrative.

As companies continue to weather the storm, creative solutions discovered in navigating this crisis can become the new narrative.

Time to consider presenting the way you’re finding your way through the pandemic as a Case Study. Your story can reveal how you overcame these new obstacles, set new goals and achievements, and where you plan to take your business in the future. Look for the value in what you are doing and share it in a way that it may be beneficial to others. Press outlets are ready to highlight these new business stories. Here’s an excellent opportunity to have your business mentioned.

Key points to include in your Case Study:
• What problem are you now solving?
• How did the solution benefit your audience? Did you solve a need?
• What are you doing now to amplify your story?
• What have you discovered you need to create your new future?

Growth. Hacked.
Two terms that fueled our business anxiety in recent years have now suffered a timely death: Growth Hacking and Scaling Up. With these rules now invalidated, how a business grows from this point forward depends on new considerations. Especially with supply lines potentially interrupted, the concept of growing a vertical business might mean something different soon.

Now more than ever, Digital Marketing is an essential tool in your marketing toolbox. Until recently, where digital marketing processes loved the Funnel — mostly, the Customer’s Journey through your marketing channels, all the way to purchase — new Conversion methods are awaiting discovery. Combine Digital Marketing advantages with a human touch, and you have a winning combination for success.

At our consultancy, we are advising our clients to invest time in building a community of like-minded collaborators. Historically we had done well when we introduced clients to each other. This practice of connecting is poised to continue to succeed in the future, and every business model can benefit from it.

Communication Revolution
Zoom, FaceTime, and Skype have become the current darlings of our communications universe. We have elevated their usage to conduct important business, and even create tribes of collaborators in the same industry.

In the Special Events industry, we have even seen sing-alongs among people who considered each other competition until four weeks ago!

Why not? With a smart collaboration, you have the potential of doubling your base of clients, and the goodwill elevates the industry.

In our projects, aside from Zoom, we also use GoogleDocs. It helps us to work as a team, thrive on the exchange of interlocking ideas, and have occasional typing duels. It also allows us to publish the final project directly to the web. We are still uncertain about communicating and collaborating in person and face-to-face. While we wait for the next phase of the de-escalation of this crisis, there are some new options to gain a new audience.

If you are an at-home creative, Adobe recently enabled its Creative Cloud suite for live streaming. Designers and other creators can broadcast their design processes as tutorials, quickly and seamlessly, by simply sharing their screen.

Technology is more than a tool; it is a lifeline to the outside world. If you’re still gun shy about using new technology, speak to your staff, your colleagues, and even your kids to learn ways to use the latest tech offerings. Then set a goal as to what you want to accomplish, beyond the mere “staying in touch.”

Hug The Competition
Remember that company across the country, the one you have been stalking on social media for a while? The one that sells a similar product but with better photos, timely sales, and excellent customer support? Perhaps it’s time to declare your feelings. Walls are breaking down, so your past competitor might be your future partner. Create a short proposal outlining how both companies can benefit from a collaboration. Your competition might be ready to say hello back.

On the local level, you can expect to see examples of that partnering practice. Gargiulo Produce, a fresh produce company in NJ, partnered with Boxcar, a local delivery app, to deliver boxes of produce directly to consumers. It’s a great example of how a B-to-B company collaborated with a B-to-C company to great mutual advantage.

We will probably see more and more of these exciting collaborations. Companies are already addressing pressing issues, from supply disruptions to the sharing of resources to personnel issues.

These unique pairings are potentially stepping stones to restructuring or recovering your business. Business odd couples may prove to be an ideal melding of the minds. Diversifying and sharing with like-minded companies in innovative ways is becoming crucial to securing the future of doing business.

Opening up an exchange of ideas can lead to clearer, more expansive thinking, perhaps even a new product or a more streamlined means of distribution. Even in our businesses and in working with our clients, there’s a newfound sense of exploration. Rather than fearing it, we’re using it to evaluate new offerings, asking outright where we can be of service, looking more closely at our functional skills.

It’s an unexpected form of networking that’s led to finding a new focus. Have you been losing your focus on all the anxiety? What are you doing to reclaim your attention?

Give Yourself a Round of Applause
While so many of us are seeking a new sense of purpose, we each see use through our lens as we try to find our footing.

Permit yourself and make it a practice to calm your panicking mind, validate your feelings, seek solid emotional ground. We have all been infected by this virus, some in non-physical ways.

Most of us have been knocked off our feet by this new economic reality. And yet, we’ve also seen more altruism, more gestures of goodness, and less “me-first” attitude than ever before. Can you see a way to take the generosity of spirit that’s coming so naturally now and channel it into something that can work in your business practice?

As the ads with the sad music and images of people applauding from their balconies give way to new anthems of hopefulness, Americans will regain their natural optimism. We are all eager for the happy ending, the loud music, the ticker-tape parades. When Social Distancing fatigue gives way to some hard-earned exuberance, we can all look back and assess how truly well we did against some historically bad odds.

Perhaps, it’s also time to acknowledge what we have also done right.