I’m on lots of social media groups and have seen many posts about small businesses and self-employed people who are now suffering due to the pandemic and inability to do “face to face” business. I can certainly empathise! I have run a creative learning business for the past 10 years, as well as a children’s party planning business with my sister. I also run a small cleaning business – nothing major, but until recently it was making me money everyday!

Due to school closures, cancelled gatherings and finally, lockdown, all three of these income streams dried up almost instantly. The fear of uncertainty can be a crippling feeling – especially when you have children or others depending on you. There’s the worry about the future, what the lack of income will mean, when and from where the next payment will come. It’s an awful feeling – enough to make you lose sleep. That’s why I only let it get to me for a couple of seconds, before shrugging it off and quickly putting my thinking cap on.

Just before everything got very serious with the current crisis, I was inspired to create an online business course for children and young people. I started to focus on driving this course forward and promoting the benefits of such a learning resource, particularly in these times. To date, I am making good sales of the course and have developed another course as a result. My sister and I also decided to offer online virtual party packages and recently got our first booking. Everyday we are thinking of new ideas, new ways of doing things, new approaches. The more we put things into practice, the more new ideas come along. I have not made a fortune (yet), but I have made moves that have benefited myself and my household – and I have made money that is contributing towards our living expenses.

It’s normal to look at a negative situation as being all doom and gloom in the first instance, but once you have dried your tears, picked yourself up off the floor and stood up (or sat down), you MUST start to look for a solution within the problem. This is essential whether your aim is to merely survive or to thrive. There is opportunity in the midst of crisis. You must decide to seek it out, because this decision means that you are not allowing the situation to destroy your hopes, dreams or confidence. However big or small, if you are actively seeking a solution, you will find something new!

Perhaps like me, you are someone who ran a physical business, with face to face contact etc. How can you now take this online? What are all of the different approaches you can potentially take? Which one(s) of those approaches is best to start with? If it’s impossible to run your business online, what else can you do? What other skills/abilities do you have that others can benefit from right now? Do not worry about all the free things that are being offered right now, work on your idea. If you have something unique or with a unique twist to it, there will be people who will want what you are offering. Brainstorm and get to work. Now is a great time to take a leap into trying something new! There’s nothing to lose 🙂