The Coronavirus lockdown is easing in the UK. Lots of non-essential businesses can reopen from early July, including pubs, restaurants, and hairdressers.
Online businesses and freelancers have been navigating Coronavirus too. Some will have found the last few months extremely tricky and others might have been surprised by how popular their remote products and services have become.
Whatever your lockdown experience has been, this post-lockdown period is the perfect time to refresh your goals, plan for the rest of 2020, and start to rebuild.
1. Check you're going in the right direction
A massive amount of change can help us focus on what really matters.
Have you been pushing yourself towards something that doesn't make you as happy as you thought it would? Do you want to develop a new product or service? Are you keen to maintain the quality time you've enjoyed with your family during lockdown? Now's the time to make it real.
2. Learn those missing skills (you do have time!)
It's easy for busy small business owners to put self development off. You're too busy, it's not the right time, you can't afford it...
Covid-19 has shown us life is just too unpredictable to put things off indefinitely. Maybe you want to start coding for yourself, or you've realised that your social media marketing skills aren't up to scratch? Whatever it is, make plans to learn it in 2020 or 2021.
3. Make money resolutions
Most small businesses have been trying very hard to save cash during Covid-19. This might be motivated by worry and fear but it's still a good habit.
If you got rid of a few Direct Debits, think about how useful they really were before you consider reinstating them. If impulse spending has been a problem, put yourself on an Amazon ban. If you were only saving bits and pieces, make a plan to save a specific percentage of your revenue every month.
4. Treat yourself better
If you were your own employee would you feel appreciated? You're probably used to just getting on with things without much time off. It might feel productive and necessary but it's not a healthy habit if you do it long-term.
Coronavirus has been tough and testing. If you're not used to giving yourself time off, block some out later in the year. If your chair is giving you back ache, invest in another. If your schedule is punishing, ask yourself why you've designed it that way and what can be done about it.
5. Get rid of the time wasters
Time wasting is part of being human. For you it could be procrastination. It could be appeasing clients and customers with unnecessary meetings. It could be spending ages on details that don't actually matter.
It's all fixable. Reflect on what took up most of your time in previous months and years. How much of it actually helped to grow your business?
6. Keep at it
Covid-19 isn't over yet but it's shown you what you're made of. You've made it through a pandemic and a shed load of uncertainty. It's a major achievement, even if it doesn't feel like it.
There's so much you could achieve in 2020, 2021 and beyond. It all starts with an idea, a bit of time in your calendar, and some perseverance. And you already know you've got buckets of that!
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in LND