The coronavirus crisis has left us all worrying about the future, the safety of ourselves and others, the financial aspect of it all, and the current state of our jobs’ security.
Being positive is hard during the best of times, but during a pandemic it can feel impossible. The constant stream of bad news can be overwhelming, and the uncertainty can be crippling.
But it’s important to remember that this is just a phase. Things will eventually get better, and in the meantime, there are things you can do to stay positive.
First, focus on the things you can control. You might not be able to control the pandemic, but you can control your attitude and your actions.
Secondly, stay connected to your support system. Whether it’s family, friends, or co-workers, talking to people who understand what you’re going through can help you feel less alone.
Finally, don’t forget to take care of yourself. This is a stressful time, and it’s important to give yourself some grace. If you need to take a break from the news or take some extra time for self-care, do it.
Staying positive during a pandemic isn’t easy, but it’s possible. By focusing on the things you can control, staying connected to your support system, and taking care of yourself, you can make it through this tough time.
Watching the news each day and witnessing the number of deaths around the globe constantly being on the rise, the amount of vulnerable people that are in constant danger, all these things add up and build negativity within our minds.
It remains true that we must most definitely take this pandemic seriously, it is extremely dangerous and life threatening.
Though, we must also remain positive from a business point of view, trying to focus on how our companies can survive the pandemic, and planning just how they’ll thrive after it finally comes to a halt.
Ways To Keep A Positive Mindset in Business
Focus on positivity within your business, how you’re still managing to connect with your audience, how online sales have improved since your physical shop had to temporarily close down; literally anything you can grasp onto in this dire time of need. We all need cheering up, and shifting your main focus onto how your business can succeed once more will inject some much needed positivity into your life for sure.
The following are a series of tips that can guide you along your way to maintaining positivity within your business while the lockdown is still in place across the UK.
-
Limit your intake of negative news
You could watch the news all day long and witness the negativity going on across the world minute by minute. Instead, limit this to a daily news check and keep yourself up to date with what’s going on without going overboard. Use some of this time to instead try to find new ideas on how to push your business plan forward, or simply just relax and allow yourself to stay mentally strong.
-
Look to the past
Look back on the fundamentals that made your business a successful idea in the first place. Did you used to connect more with customers and clients online, for example? Did you previously conduct a larger amount of email marketing? There’s plenty you can do from the comfort of your own home, so make the most of it.
-
Watch useful online videos to learn new skills
There is an endless amount of online tutorial videos for you to consume these days, thanks to the likes of YouTube. Is there something you’ve been wanting to learn that would potentially take your business to the next level, but you’re yet to do it? Now’s the time to get it done. You have so much extra free time on your hands now, you may as well make the most of it.
-
Check up on your loved ones
You may be classed as a low risk individual yourself, but you’ll know plenty of people that aren’t so lucky. Those people may have a disability, they could be elderly, or suffer from underlying health problems they’re currently unaware of. They might also just be lonely, especially if they live alone or are just to being sociable and communicating with many others on a daily basis. If this is the case, give them a call and make both of you feel better about the whole situation in the process.
-
Support your favourite local business
Show other businesses some support; treat them how you want to be treated. If your business venture is going through a tough time, know that so are many others. Almost every type of business is in the same boat at the moment, so keep the faith and help each other out as much as you can. This will add a sense of togetherness and community that we will all value now, between multiple businesses.
-
Send perks to long term customers
Don’t allow your long term customers to be forgotten about, and don’t let them forget about you either! Offer them incentives or special offers that can be redeemed during the quarantine period. Stay in contact with your customers, it really is the best way to stick in their minds and allow them to keep the cash flow pouring in that will prove crucial for the survival of many businesses.
-
Use your newly found spare time
This point goes hand in hand with discovering a new skill or learning something that will advance your business venture further. You can also use all of this new time you’ve found yourself with to read a book that’s been on the shelf for a while, watch a television series you previously missed, or perhaps even learn to play the instrument that’s been gathering dust in your spare room. Fill your time with something that entertains you and something you enjoy doing. This will help to keep the negativity away from you, and therefore away from the business you run.
-
Be good to others
If you live near someone that can’t get to the shops for some reason and you’re fully able to, offer to help them out. Performing random acts of kindness will leave you feeling positive about yourself and how you’re acting throughout this virus outbreak. Spread the good will gestures around and you may find that because you’ve helped people personally, they decide they want to support your business in anyway they can, as a way of returning the favour. The greater amount of new customers you can make during these times, the better, even if it means resorting to old fashioned methods.
-
Take a daily inventory
This last point comes from Forbes, who say, “Close your day, every day, with a positive acknowledgement of something you accomplished, learned or are grateful for. It will help dilute some of the negativity you’ve absorbed and remind you that not everything that’s happening right now is bad or depressing”.
Now is the time to focus your thoughts on the good points of your business. Think about what’s still succeeding, what’s taken a surprising turn for the best during these times, has it brought any new opportunities with it? Focus your energy on being positive and your business may just share that thought process with you and start reaping its much-deserved rewards
Mental health awareness week
From the 18th – 24th May 2020, Mental Health Awareness Week takes place across the UK. Of course, mental wellness and positivity plays a huge part in any successful business venture. We should all aim to raise our awareness of the mental state of others, not only around the workplace, but generally more in our personal lives too.
We are getting better at understanding emotional issues we all face from time to time and figuring out new ways to help each other, especially within a workplace environment. Though, for those of us that need a reminder, or are actively seeking help from others, getting involved in Mental Health Awareness Week is a great place to start.
The Mental Health Organisation itself states that, “Mental health problems can affect anyone, at any time. We believe that mental health is everyone’s business. So, for one week each May, we campaign around a specific theme for Mental Health Awareness Week. Since our first Mental Health Awareness Week in 2001, we’ve raised awareness of topics like body image, stress and relationships. The campaign reaches millions of people every year. This year, with your support, we want to reach more people than ever”.
It’s simple and straightforward to get involved this year and spread the word to the people that you work with, even with the Coronavirus pandemic keeping us all apart from one another. You can choose to take part in a fundraiser for the organisation by completing a challenge or just doing something you’ve come up with yourself in order to raise money while raising awareness of the issue at the same time. You can purchase a green ribbon pin, where you’ll not only be making a donation, but also spreading the word further by presenting the pin on your clothing while at work or elsewhere.
Look towards the businesses that are finding success
There are a number of businesses that have been doing well regardless of the pandemic. Some have been able to go on and achieve an even greater amount of success than they were able to beforehand. It’s not a bad idea to look at these businesses and either try to emulate what they’ve been doing, or simply take inspiration from the positive output they’ve created for themselves during lockdown.
Just who exactly are the businesses doing well during the pandemic, you may be wondering. Well, it’s clear to see that the business models that’re finding success are the ones that offer an experience we’ve not been able to otherwise get during the lockdown. The one thing these businesses all have in common is that they offer timely products, they aid people from home, and they offer a form of entertainment so many of us are desperately searching for during these testing times.
To find success during the Coronavirus pandemic, businesses have had to accept the fact that people will be stuck at home, and therefore the products a company sells or services it offers must recognise this and target a remote audience. Because of this, some businesses have become more popular due to the fact that they coincidentally already had the perfect business plan for this, without first realising it.
This is why companies such as Zoom, that allow video calls between large groups of people have been doing extremely well, Families are able to stay in touch and groups of friends can easily catch up with one another, whereas they haven’t been able to see each other in person. Much like with Netflix, people haven’t been able to go to the cinema due to social distancing rules, so that has filled a gap in the market for them at this weird time.
The businesses that are managing to make the most out of this awful situation seem to be the ones that offer something we’re missing. Entertainment keeps us busy during the long, otherwise boring days, and works well to keep our spirits high. Video calling takes care of another void in our lives, which is connecting with others and getting to see our loved ones, albeit in a virtual way, but it’ll have to do for now.
Anything you can do to show your support and further your understanding of the organisation will be a great way to get yourself involved with Mental Health Awareness Week this year
The pandemic is getting worse
As the pandemic seems to be once again worsening across the UK, you should focus your full efforts on making the right choices for the future survival of your business. Keeping your company afloat may once again prove to be a real task over the winter months, so be sure to take care of the finer details of your venture. A second lockdown may eventually arrive, as multiple areas of the UK are more or less shut down again, though we don’t want to see a repeat showing of the disastrous effects the last one had on our country’s business industries.
Communicate with your audience
You should make an effort to find customer feedback and create a useful communication stream between your customers and the business itself. This will allow you to keep them up to date with all ongoing developments throughout this difficult period, especially if you have to temporarily close again. It’ll also allow you to ask your loyal audience for help, should you eventually need it, in terms of custom and finances, as well as making it easier for you to tell them when you plan on reopening.
If your business has an online counterpart, which it should do by now, or is completely based in an online space, collecting customer reviews and feedback on how you could possibly handle another lockdown, shouldn’t be too difficult at all. As an online business, you can get customer feedback easily and quickly, as they can give your service or product a rating via a single click of a button, or offer you a single sentence review which could potentially carve out the future of your company.
Consumers of your business are far more likely to do this online than they ever were in-store, because it only takes a moment or two while they’re at their desktops, rather than having to go through a drawn out process in person of speaking to a manager, etc.
Your customers and consumers should have an ongoing dialogue with your business if you want to succeed in a world that is as unpredictable as the current pandemic climate we’re living in at the moment.
Remember that continuing to fund your business doesn’t solely come own to financial worries that may present themselves this winter; it also comes down to maintaining your audience and keeping an active communication stream with them, so be aware that you’ll need to use your voice to connect with your consumers
Local lockdown restrictions to bring further difficulties
Today, Matt Hancock has announced a series of further measures and tighter UK lockdown restrictions in numerous areas of the country. These so-called ‘local restrictions’ will only effect certain areas of England, including North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield, London, Essex, Elmbridge and Barrow-in-Furness.
This will make things considerably difficult for both the mental health of people in these areas whom will once again not be allowed to travel to family and friends’ households, and businesses that will likely see a major loss in public footfall and cashflow. Businesses in the hospitality sector will have yet more hardships cast upon them, as pubs and bars in these areas may now only remain open if they act as a restaurant.
They can now only serve alcohol as part of a main meal, rather than as a completely separate item. It must be stated that very few people will be popping down to their local pubs to order a soft drink, so expect this to kill many businesses in that sector, unfortunately.
Remaining positive during these difficult times will obviously become increasingly difficult and we must continue to consider the mental health implications this will have on many people in the UK. Not being able to see family and friends indoors feels like a backwards step that we all thought we’d moved on from during the initial lockdown we were all impacted by. Though, you should be aware of the things you’re still allowed to do.
Keep in mind what you’re still able to do
If you’re someone that struggles to remain positive during these times, you’re quite clearly not alone, as it has a major effect on many people from a mental health standpoint. You should make an effort to keep in mind the things that you’re still able to do, despite being in an area which has entered Tier 2 of the new lockdown regulations. You can sill see people you want to outdoors, as long as you abide to social distancing and the rule of six
Though, if you’re the owner of a business venture, you may be feeling a little warier about how you will proceed now and in the future, if these restrictions stay in place. Remember to communicate with your customer base and get consumers of our business prepared for what’s to come. You can do this in the form of a social media post, an email chain, etc.
As long as people know what you have in mind, they’ll likely want to help to see you through the pandemic any way that they can and you’ll be staying at the forefront of their minds by making it clear that you’re opening up a communication stream between your business and all clients, customers and consumers.
Businesses will ultimately begin to rely on connection with their audiences in an online space, so if you’re an offline-only company, you may want to consider looking into how you can take things onto the internet in the near future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, staying positive in business during the pandemic has been nothing short of a remarkable feat. The challenges posed by the unprecedented circumstances forced entrepreneurs and organizations to adapt, innovate, and persevere. Through resilience, creativity, and a commitment to their employees and customers, many businesses not only survived but also thrived during these trying times.
The pandemic served as a stark reminder of the importance of agility and adaptability in the business world. It showcased the power of technology, remote work, and digital transformation, accelerating trends that were already underway. Moreover, it emphasized the significance of human capital and the need for businesses to prioritize the well-being of their employees, understanding that a motivated and engaged workforce is often the key to success, even in the face of adversity.
As we move forward, the lessons learned from navigating the pandemic will continue to shape the way businesses operate. Resilience and adaptability will remain essential qualities, and an emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility is likely to grow. While uncertainty may still loom on the horizon, the experiences of staying business-positive during the pandemic have shown that, with determination, flexibility, and a positive outlook, businesses can weather even the most challenging storms and emerge stronger on the other side.
Seasoned professional with a strong passion for the world of business finance. With over twenty years of dedicated experience in the field, my journey into the world of business finance began with a relentless curiosity for understanding the intricate workings of financial systems.