“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgement; and when they derive substance and strength from the relationship,”
– Brene Brown
As many businesses in the Central West of NSW prepares for yet another prolonged lockdown it is important to stay connected with your family, your friends, your suppliers, your peers, and your customers. It helps with your mental wellness and in connecting with others it lifts your spirits and theirs.
If you have not had a chance to pivot to any online services or products now is the time. When making these connections either via phone, facetime, or Zoom, perhaps try a little one on one brain storming and see if you can generate some fresh ideas to then develop into innovated products or services that you can sell and that will meet the gap in the market, which will be useful to clients.
Start up a call list of people you love to speak with and get yourself motivated to get on the phones and speak to as many people as possible. As a Business Owner, it is important to stay connected with your suppliers and clients so that they don’t forget you. It is just as import to make contact with friends and family that you may not have been in touch with for a long time. Check to see if they are okay? Most importantly check in with other business owners as they are more than likely in the same boat as you. They feel the isolation and the pressure to bring in revenue to feed themselves but also to feed their staff. No one wishes to lose great staff unless they absolutely have to. Speak with your Accountant or Business Advisor and use them as sounding boards. See what Government grants are available and apply for them. Do what you need to do to survive.
Zoom is now my new best friend. I reluctantly started to use Zoom more and more as these lockdowns have continued and it has been a great way to stay in touch with my clients. My preference has always been face to face but the current pandemic has left me with little choice. Either go online or fail. I hate to fail, and I never give up no matter how rough the journey is. Now I coach via Zoom, I run webinars via Zoom, and I make appointments with contacts to discuss potential new work using Zoom. Recently, I ran my networking group, Persuaders Powerhouse via Zoom and it went very well. Our Guest Speaker gave an excellent presentation and the mood of the attendees was very buoyant as they all worked together to refer business to each other and lift each other’s spirits up. We know how tough lockdowns must be when introverts start complaining that they are missing their work friends. Extroverts are also feeling great pain and are struggling, as they can’t make face to face connections as they normally would. We are social animals and we need to connect with others, so I encourage you to make someone’s day and give them a call, not to sell them anything, just to check that they are doing okay!
