Over 200,000 businesses have closed down since the COVID-19 pandemic reached our shoes. About 60 percent of these closures are now permanent.
As a small business owner, there’s nothing that could have prepared you for this pandemic. Even those who had adequate business interruption insurance were shocked to learn that providers weren’t willing to provide compensation.
So, what do you do? Close down your business for good? No. That’s not the spirit of entrepreneurship. You adapt to the new normal.
Of course, adapting can be easier said than done. That’s why we’re here to help.
Read on to learn how you can build a business that will thrive in the new reality of our times.
Audit Your Business
When was the last time you gave your business a long, hard look?
If you’re anything like most small business owners, you’ve probably never audited your operations to see what’s adding value, what’s redundant, and whatnot. Especially if things have been smooth-sailing, it’s understandable if you never saw the need to audit your enterprise.
However, the coronavirus pandemic has changed all that. With people forced to stay home and business closures being the order of the day, almost every business was affected in one way or another. Those in the retail, transport, and hospitality sectors were the most affected.
If you have to close down your physical stores, it’s no doubt been months of searing pain. Fixed expenses like rent and employee wages kept piling on even as revenues plummeted.
As the economy reopens, now is the best time to audit your operations and ensure parts that aren’t adding value to the business are cut. The same goes for operations that aren’t friendly to the new normal.
Keep in mind that your audit needs to be data-driven. The numbers should clearly show that a certain operation, unit, or department is dead wood to your business.
Prioritize Employee Health and Safety
If you’ve been able to keep your employees, thumbs up!
When faced with financial uncertainty or declining revenues, firing employees is usually the go-to cost-cutting measure for most employers.
Yet, an organization is nothing without its workforce. It’s your employees who do the heavy lifting. And while it might be necessary to declare some positions redundant after a proper audit, it’s essential to put the health and safety of those who remain first.
The coronavirus is a deadly disease. It can cause death, long-term hospitalization, and even in the short-term, a serious bout can ground you for days. And the long-term effects of the condition haven’t been established.
Workplace cleaning, sanitization, and disinfection is a must. This might mean hiring a professional cleaning service, which is an additional cost, but the return on investment can’t even be measured.
A clean workplace will keep your employees safe and healthy. If you don’t take the issue seriously, it’s only a matter of time before the virus knocks on your door and spreads like wildfire.
The outcome?
You will need to send everyone home and your operations might come to a halt. This shouldn’t be happening several months after the pandemic began
Embrace Work from Home
From an employer’s eyes, working from home has its pros and cons.
One of the biggest downsides is you’ve little supervisory power over your employees. Unlike in the office where you can monitor them and ensure everyone is doing their part, when working from their own homes there isn’t much you can do.
That’s a legitimate concern, but don’t let it get in the way of rational thinking. In the age of coronavirus, working from home isn’t even an option. It’s the new normal.
Instead of looking forward to when we will be truly back to the old way of doing things, focus on how you can build an effective remote workforce. It’s not just about letting your people work from home. You have to develop the right work-from-home policies and get the technology that will help transform your business into a truly remote company.
Be Tech-Forward
Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology uptake among small businesses was increasing gradually. However, now businesses are in a rush to digitize and transform their operations.
Whereas a business website and a computer network were commonplace pre-pandemic, now small enterprises are leveraging the power of high-end, advanced business software and systems.
If you’ve been hesitant to spend on technology, now is the best time to take out the checkbook. A digitally transformed business has a good chance of surviving and thriving in this new normal.
That being said, ensure you’re spending money on the right technologies. You also have to invest in employee training to ensure your workers are making the most of the technology and are doing so while being in compliance with the relevant laws.
If you run a medical practice, for example, you have to know how technology can impact your compliance with HIPAA regulations. Read this guide on HIPAA texting to learn more about how you can contact your clients through text messaging without violating the law.
Ecommerce
Without sounding like a broken record, ecommerce has seen tremendous growth in this pandemic.
If you had ecommerce operations, it’s likely that your online revenues increased multiple-fold. If you didn’t, this is your wake-up call. Ecommerce is the future and you’re better off finding a business model that focuses on ecommerce.
Embrace the New Normal
The COVID-10 pandemic has changed lives in multiple ways. Eventually, we’ll go back to the old way, but for now, the new normal is here. As a business owner, you shouldn’t wait for the world to go back to what it was; you have to make do with the new reality.
Adapt quickly or your business won’t have a chance. All the best and keep tabs on our blog for more small business advice.
